Remember the Philadelphia Eagles' 2020 season? It feels like it was along time ago. It was really bad. It ended up being really good.
To begin, it was the COVID season, so NFL games were played in front of like 5,000 or so people. The Eagles were actually probably thankful for that, because if the Linc had been filled to capacity they'd have been booed off the field all season.
In Week 1, the Eagles got out to a 17-0 lead on the road against the then Washington Football Team, and then completely fell apart mainly due to three bad turnovers by Carson Wentz. That loss set the tone for what would be a 4-11-1 season that would get Wentz benched and Doug Pederson fired.
The tank
In the season's final game, already eliminated from playoff contention, Pederson and the Eagles' front office purposely lost for better draft positioning. They had 10(!) inactives (mostly starters), they didn't dress Wentz, and when then-rookie Jalen Hurts posed a threat to win the game with just a three-point deficit in the fourth quarter, he got pulled in favor of Nate Sudfeld.
Eagles players who got significant snaps in that game included Sudfeld, Luke Juriga, Jason Huntley, Greg Ward, J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, Travis Fulgham, Jalen Reagor, John Hightower, T.Y. McGill, Genard Avery, Raequan Williams, Joe Ostman, Rashad Smith, Rudy Ford, Grayland Arnold, Jameson Houston, and Blake Countess. I swear I didn't make up any of those names.
If the Eagles had won that game, they'd have picked 9th in the 2021 NFL Draft. Instead they picked 6th.
In the leadup to the draft, the Dolphins came calling. They wanted to move up from the 12th overall pick, and they were willing to pay an asinine price to do so. In exchange for the Eagles' 6th overall pick, the Dolphins gave up their 12th overall pick and their first round pick in 2022, plus some other sweeteners.
Would they have traded with the Eagles if they were sitting at 9th overall? Probably not. They certainly wouldn't have paid as much to do so.
The Eagles then traded up from pick No. 12 to pick No. 10 over the Giants, who were picking 11th, and selected WR DeVonta Smith. With their 2022 first-round pick acquired from the Dolphins, the Eagles traded up a couple spots for DT Jordan Davis.
The Eagles also then had a high pick in Round 2 in the 2021 draft, which was used to select Landon Dickerson, who has been named to the Pro Bowl in each of the last three seasons.
Carson Wentz cried his way out of town 😭
In the aftermath of the 2020 season Wentz was mad that he had gotten benched, and he wanted to be traded. The Eagles otherwise probably would have just rolled with him in 2021, but realizing that keeping an unhappy quarterback in town would be unproductive — and, I mean, he also stunk in 2020 — Howie Roseman probably did about as well as he could have in terms of recouping value in return.
Wentz was traded to the Colts and old friend Frank Reich, for the following return:
| Eagles got | Colts got |
| 2021 third-round pick | Carson Wentz |
| A 2022 second-round pick that could become a first-round pick if playing time benchmarks were hit in 2021 |
The third round pick was traded along with the aforementioned 12th overall pick in the 2021 draft to select DeVonta Smith.
The conditional first/second round pick is where it gets fun. To begin, the Eagles were only guaranteed a second-round pick in 2022 in return for Wentz. For that pick to become a first-round pick, Wentz had to play 75 percent of the Colts' offensive snaps, or 70 percent of the Colts' snaps if the Colts made the playoffs.
As it turned out, Wentz played 98 percent of the Colts' snaps, and the Eagles got that first-round pick.
Not only did Wentz play the required number of snaps, but the Colts also missed the playoffs, finishing 9-7. The end result was that the Eagles got the 16th overall pick from Indy.
In April of 2022, the Eagles made a major swap of draft picks with the Saints in advance of the 2022 draft, with the 16th overall pick from the Colts being the key piece. The details:
| Eagles traded | Eagles acquired |
| 16th overall pick (the Wentz pick) | 18th overall pick, 2022 |
| 19th overall pick | Third-round pick (101st overall), 2022 |
| Sixth-round pick (194th overall), 2022 | Seventh-round pick (237th overall), 2022 |
| 2023 first-round pick | |
| 2024 second-round pick |
The Eagles essentially traded pick 16 for a first-round pick, a second-round pick, a third-round pick, and they moved up from pick 19 to pick 18. They also made a fairly inconsequential move back from pick 194 to pick 237.
On the main parts of that deal:
• The Eagles traded the 18th overall pick and the third-round pick (101st overall) acquired from the Saints to the Titans for WR A.J. Brown.
• The 2022 Saints finished with a 7-10 record, and their first-round pick in 2023, owned by the Eagles, ended up being 10th overall. With the Bears on the clock at pick No. 9, the Eagles traded up one spot (the cost was a 2024 fourth-round pick) to select Georgia DT Jalen Carter, who many believed to be the most talented prospect in that draft.
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• The 2023 Saints missed the playoffs as well, and their second-round pick in 2024, owned by the Eagles, was used to trade up for Iowa CB Cooper DeJean. (On a side note, the Eagles traded picks 50, 53, and 161 to Washington for picks 40, 78, and 152. Pick No. 78 became Jalyx Hunt, who closed the season strong, was a factor in the Super Bowl, and is poised to start in 2025.)
The trade of Wentz also cleared the way for Jalen Hurts, who, you know, would eventually become a Super Bowl MVP.
Here's what the Eagles ultimately gained as a result of the three trades Roseman made with the Dolphins, Colts, and Saints:
- A.J. Brown
- DeVonta Smith
- Jalen Carter (with the help of a future fourth-round pick).
- Jordan Davis (with the help of three Day 3 picks).
- A second round pick that was used to trade up for Cooper DeJean.
- Jalen Hurts became the starter.
Wentz financial considerations
By trading Wentz, the Eagles took a then-unprecedented dead money hit of $33,820,611, which was $12 million more than the previous biggest dead money hit in NFL history. But, he was off the Eagles' books after 2021, where $31,274,536, $34,273,539 and $32 million of cap room was gained, respectively, in 2022, 2023, and 2024 (h/t Joel Corry of CBS).
Wentz's big quarterback contract was replaced by a new one for Hurts, who counted for just $13.6 million on the Eagles' cap in 2024. The structure of Hurts' new contract allowed the Eagles to splurge a little bit on a player like Saquon Barkley.
The moral of the story
If you're going to have a bad season, you may as well be really, really bad. Oh, and if you're going to gain some better assets as a result, maximize their value.
The Sixers tanked for years and never got past the second round of the playoffs. The Eagles tanked for one game and they won the Super Bowl.
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