After benching Carson Wentz for Jalen Hurts this past Sunday against the Green Bay Packers (9-3), Eagles head coach Doug Pederson has named the rookie Philadelphia’s starting quarterback. Hurts will make his first start this Sunday against the New Orleans Saints (10-2).
What does this mean for the Eagles (3-8-1)?
“Short-term, I think since they’ve made the move to Jalen Hurts, unless something catastrophic happens, they need to kind of play it out,” CBS Sports NFL analyst Charles Davis said on Tiki & Tierney. “They need to say, ‘Okay, he’s going to be our guy for the rest of the year,’ unless he gets in there and shows he just can’t handle anything, which I don’t think is going to be the case. But to me, if you’re going to make this move now – because everyone is still in contention in the NFC East – then you need to go ahead and ride this all the way through. Find out what you have.”
Long-term, however, is when things get more complicated, especially in terms of Wentz’s contract.
“I don’t know anyone in the league who’s going to make a move for him with that kind of contract,” Davis said. “And $60 million of it, as I understand it, is dead cap space. So you can’t improve your team even if you cut him. So you’re jammed up on that one. . . . So what I think is going to happen, short-term, Hurts plays out the year. Long term, I’m hoping Doug Pederson is back and gets one more shot at this thing. I have an affection for Doug. I think that a guy who’s won a Super Bowl like that, I’d like to see him get that opportunity to fix what’s gone wrong.
“But I think they come back next year, and let’s say we have . . . OTAs and minicamp. I think it becomes a battle for the starting quarterback position,” Davis continued. “Someone has to win it because you can’t cut Carson. You can’t cut him. You can’t trade him. You’re going to try to rehabilitate things in the offseason and give him a chance to win the job back. Otherwise why would you have him around? I’m going to have him fight for the job and make Hurts fight for the job and let’s see what happens.”
Wentz was benched in the third quarter against the Packers. He finished 6-of-15 for 79 yards and four sacks in the 30-16 loss. The second overall pick in 2016, Wentz leads the NFL in sacks (50) and interceptions (15).
It’s been hard to watch.