What the Philadelphia Eagles’ hiring of Nick Sirianni means for QB Carson Wentz

By Vincent Frank

·Updated: January 21, 2021

Former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson made the obvious decision to bench struggling quarterback Carson Wentz towards the end of a disastrous 2020 season for the organization.

This led to speculation that Wentz was not happy with the Eagles and wanted to be traded. In turn, Philadelphia might decide to go with 2020 second-round pick Jalen Hurts under center next season after he played pretty well in limited action as a rookie last season.

The hiring of Nick Sirianni as the Eagles’ next head coach to replace Pederson could very well change this moving forward. At the very least, passing evidence suggests this might be the case.

Philadelphia Eagles likely to retain Carson Wentz

Sirianni, 39, spent the past three seasons as the Indianapolis Colts’ offensive coordinator under Frank Reich. That’s notable in that Reich was the Eagles’ offensive coordinator when they selected Wentz No. 2 overall back in 2016. Under Reich, Wentz morphed into a potential franchise quarterback for two seasons.

Reich gave the Eagles a glowing review about Sirianni, ultimately leading to the team hiring the offensive-minded head coach on Thursday. The connections are obvious as it relates to these Eagles keeping Carson Wentz.

Carson Wentz stats and hopes for improvement

This past season saw Wentz tie for the league lead with 15 interceptions against 16 touchdowns. All said, the former Pro Bowl quarterback turned the ball over a whopping 20 times in 12 starts.

That played a huge role in the Philadelphia Eagles boasting an ugly 4-11-1 record. It also represented major regression on the part of the strong-armed signal caller. The stats back this up big time.

2016: 62.4% completion, 3,782 yards, 16 touchdowns, 14 interceptions (79.3 rating)
2017: 60.2% completion, 3,296 yards, 33 touchdowns, 7 interceptions (101.9 rating)
2018: 69.6% completion, 3,074 yards, 21 touchdowns, 7 interceptions (102.2 rating)
2019: 63.9% completion, 4,039 yards, 27 touchdowns, 7 interceptions (93.1 rating)
2020: 57.4% completion, 2,620 yards, 16 touchdowns, 15 interceptions (72.8 rating)

As you can see, Wentz’s numbers were down across the board in 2020. With that said, there’s a background here we can’t ignore. Starting receivers Alshon Jeffery and DeSean Jackson played in a combined 12 games. The Eagles’ offensive line was also injury-plagued throughout the campaign.

There’s some reason for optimism that Carson Wentz can turn it around. At the very least, it seems he will be given the chance after the Philadelphia Eagles hired Nick Sirianni on Thursday.