Carson Wentz is no longer in Philadelphia, but his play this year — more specifically the amount of time he plays — will have a big impact on the Eagles franchise.
For those who need a refresher, Howie Roseman traded Wentz to the Colts this offseason for a second round pick that can become a first rounder if one of two things happen:
- Wentz plays at least 75 percent of the Colts offensive snaps
- Wentz plays at least 70 percent of the Colts offensive snaps and the team makes the playoffs
Most fans, including myself, assumed the conditional pick next year would become a first rounder. But with Wentz going down with a foot injury during the first week of training camp, the fate of that pick is up in the air.
It was initially reported that Wentz could opt for surgery to repair the injured foot. Surgery would essentially confirm missing the first few weeks of the regular season. After meeting with noted foot specialist Dr. Robert Anderson, Wentz and his team is opting to forgo surgery and will continue to rest and rehab the foot in hopes that he can go by Week 1, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Now we play the waiting game.
On Monday morning, Rapoport noted that we’ll find out this week how likely surgery is for Wentz when he appeared on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football.
Taking a look at how many games Wentz can actually miss in 2021 and still meet the conditional pick threshold, let’s assume Indianapolis runs roughly 1,200 offensive plays this season with the added 17th game. Wentz averaged just under 68 offensive snaps for Philly in 2020, so with that as a barometer, Wentz can miss up to four games and still play at least 75 percent of the Colts offensive snaps. He can miss five and still reach 70 percent of the snaps. Anything beyond that, and the Eagles are shit out of luck with their potential first round pick in next year’s draft.
Despite only playing a full 16 games in two of his five NFL seasons, Wentz has met the 70 percent threshold in every season except for one (2018). He’s met the 75 percent threshold three out of his five seasons.
Obviously, Wentz staying healthy for the majority of the year and playing upwards of 75 percent of the Colts offensive snaps is the best case scenario for all parties involved.
As Rapoport noted, we’ll get a clearer picture on Wentz’s timetable later this week.
Now that he decided on the surgery it will probably be a second round pick. i don’t see him playing 70% of the snaps.