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The Indianapolis Colts officially announced the trade with the Philadelphia Eagles for quarterback Carson Wentz, a deal that has been anticipated for roughly a month.
The Colts can finally acknowledge the trade now that the new league year has arrived, and head Frank Reich went on Sirius XM NFL Radio to discuss his new quarterback.
“It’s the NFL and sometimes things happen and it’s best to get a clean and fresh start,” Reich said. “I’m happy we were able to come away with a win-win deal. I think a trade between us and the Eagles that in many respects was very fair and we’re excited about it.”
Reich and the Colts staff will have their work cut out for them. Wentz has plenty of mechanical issues to fix along with getting his confidence back in the pocket, two aspects of his game that failed him in 2020.
But Reich believes in Wentz and believes a fresh start is exactly what he needs to get back to form as a capable starting quarterback.
“We think he can make a big impact. He’s highly intelligent. He’s big, strong, can make all the throws on the field that you need to make to be a big-time NFL quarterback,” Reich said. “But we need to play within ourselves, you know. We need to play our style of football, we need to grow each week. We just have a mantra around here, just keep getting better. We’re not going to focus on having any crazy thoughts or goals or timetables on this or that. We’re just going to fight to get better every day.”
Reich also believes the history between the two will play a positive role in getting Wentz back to form. It helped with Philip Rivers during his one season with the Colts and feels it will play a major role with Wentz now.
I had a very close relationship with Philip and I think that really helped, just personally, just a belief just in the person right and the friendship, the genuine man-to-man friendship and camaraderie and the respect of fighting to get better all the time, and the respect for who he was as a player,” Reich said. “And Philip, you know, I know knew that and believed that and I think the same would be true of Carson. It starts with a mutual respect and who he is as a person and who he is as a player, and I’m just excited to work with him again. I think very highly of him..”
The Colts are hoping a revitalized Wentz will give them a chance to get back into the playoffs again and compete with the rest of the AFC. We’ll see what happens, but Reich is certainly excited about getting his guy.
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