Jalen Hurts has fared well – extremely well – in his two starts for the Philadelphia Eagles, accounting for 600+ passing yards, 250+ rushing yards and five touchdowns (four pass, one rush).
And Carson Wentz isn’t happy about it. The former No. 2 overall pick is reportedly not interesting in being a backup quarterback and wants to leave Philadelphia if Hurts remains the starter.
If true, Tiki Barber can’t believe it.
“Carson Wentz is being perhaps the worst teammate you could possibly be – ever” Barber said on Tiki & Tierney. “Here’s the problem: there is a narrative around Carson Wentz that as good as he is or potentially could be, he’s just never been able to be the man. It puts the Eagles in an utterly impossible position.”
Wentz has completed 57.4 percent of his passes for 218.3 yards per game this season. He has 21 touchdowns (16 pass, five rush) to 15 interceptions and leads the league in sacks (50) and turnovers (19).
“If they make this change and Carson Wentz, who got a $128 million extension last year – and they can’t trade him because of the cap hit – if they make him the starter, it creates chaos in your locker room,” Barber said. “Because all of a sudden these guys are going to be saying, ‘We don’t want to go win now? We don’t value a guy going out and balling? Being put in a very difficult and odd circumstance – like Jalen Hurts was – taking over for the franchise quarterback and he did nothing but perform, and now you’re going to bench the guy? What the hell?’
“You can’t do that,” Barber continued. “But if you acquiesce to Carson Wentz and put Jalen Hurts back on the bench – or even trade him – you create this feel of weakness or incompetence because why the heck did you pay [Wentz] that much money and then draft Jalen Hurts in the second round, [which] disrupted his psyche and his confidence? It’s almost your own fault.”
The Eagles (4-9-1) are in last place in the NFC East. They close the season at Dallas (5-9) and against Washington (6-8).
“It’s put the Eagles in a no-win situation,” Barber said of the quarterback drama. “The only thing that can help this is Carson Wentz has to come out and say, ‘Jalen Hurts is playing great, he deserves to start right now, we’ll have a great quarterback battle next season.’ He needs to say something like that. Otherwise this thing could get really, really ugly and disruptive and divisive in the locker room and in the front office.”