ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Saturday reported the Philadelphia Eagles are expected to trade quarterback Carson Wentz within days of Super Bowl LV. It’s difficult to believe the San Francisco 49ers will be among the teams involved in such a deal.
A couple seasons ago Wentz would’ve been a clear upgrade over Jimmy Garoppolo. That’s not the case now after completing just 57.4 percent of his throws last year, and averaging only 6.4 yards per attempt the last two years.
It’s not a huge surprise to see there’s a market for the former No. 2 overall pick. He was once one of the hottest young quarterbacks in the league, and he’s still just 28 years old. Colts head coach Frank Reich was the Eagles’ offensive coordinator for Wentz’s first two seasons and Indianapolis needs a signal caller following Philip Rivers’ retirement. Those are circumstances where a team may be willing to take in Wentz from Philadelphia. San Francisco is not in that position.
The 49ers have two issues under center that’ve led to a potential overhaul of their quarterback room. They haven’t been able to keep Garoppolo on the field, and their turnovers were far too frequent the last couple of seasons.
Wentz is a solution for neither of those things.
While he’s been healthier than Garoppolo, he still missed time with a torn ACL in 2017. He missed five games in 2018. He played a whole season in 2019 before suffering a concussion in their first playoff game. Then last year he wound up getting benched after tossing a league-worst 15 interceptions in just 12 starts. Garoppolo in 2019 despite his faults was substantially better than Wentz was in 2020, making it hard to imagine the 49ers are going to move off the former just to bring in the latter.
Wentz last season was a shadow of the quarterback that might’ve been the 2017 MVP before his ACL tear. He’s talented, but comes with a lot of baggage that may not prove worthwhile for a team looking for stability under center.