Just when NFL reporters thought it was safe to take a little rest, the league broke into a quarterback trading frenzy. The week between the NFL scouting combine and the start of free agency is dominated by big-time quarterback transactions.
Seattle traded away Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos for a cadre of draft picks and legit starting veterans. Then the Colts followed suit by dealing Carson Wentz to Washington for two third-round picks and a swap of second-rounders. It has reshaped the QB landscape of the NFC, a conference where the Lions are trying to climb up with Jared Goff — acquired from the Rams in a trade that kickstarted the QB movement a year ago when Los Angeles made the thirsty trade for Matthew Stafford.
The Rams proved that swinging for the QB fences in a trade can work, and now other teams are trying to follow suit.
Tuesday’s trade that shipped Wilson out of the NFC and signaled the start of a rebuild in Seattle should be seen as good news for the Lions. Wilson tormented the Lions, notably in a postseason game in 2016. The Seahawks are now chock full of draft capital and could quickly assemble a new-look playoff team, but for now, the removal of Wilson is addition-by-subtraction for the Lions and the rest of the NFC.
Interpreting Wednesday’s move by Washington is a little more difficult. Wentz fizzled badly in Indianapolis in his first season following the Colts trading a first-round pick to Philadelphia to acquire him. Whatever the opposite of “clutch” is in football terms, that’s the picture next to Wentz in the dictionary after he choked away a playoff berth in an unforgivable (by Colts standards) loss to the worst team in the league, the Jaguars, in Week 18.
(The jury is still out in Philadelphia on Wentz’s replacement, Jalen Hurts)
The Commanders are hoping Wentz can get back to being healthy and effective, as he largely was in 2017-2019 for the Eagles. In the last two years, he’s consistently been one of the NFL’s worst veteran starters. It’s a gutsy move borne of desperation in Washington, which won the NFC East in 2020 but cratered with Taylor Heinicke in place of an injured Ryan Fitzpatrick at the controls. It’s worth pointing out that Heinicke posted very similar numbers to Wentz in 2021. Good Carson Wentz makes Washington better, but there’s no guarantee Wentz will ever be good again.
Washington’s move also appears to reflect the pervasive theme that the NFL just isn’t in love with any of the quarterbacks in the 2022 NFL draft. Picking at No. 11, the Commanders figure to have their choice of nearly anyone they want. They chose instead to pay Carson Wentz over $25 million and give up two third-round picks. That’s a very loud indictment of how the NFL perceives Kenny Pickett, Matt Corral et al.
As for the Lions, it’s a sign that the team probably cannot do any better than Jared Goff no matter what in 2022. It’s also a sign that if Goff performs the way he did in guiding the team to a 3-3 finish in 2021 under new offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, there will be a market for his services — either in Detroit or with another team desperate to avoid what looks like another very thin draft class at QB.
