Ask and you will apparently receive. Yesterday, we profiled the Philadelphia Eagles as an emerging trade candidate in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft for the Miami Dolphins. But if and only if the Eagles agreed to a trade to send veteran quarterback Carson Wentz away.
No less than a few hours later, the deed was over. Wentz will be an Indianapolis Colt in 2021, and the Philadelphia Eagles are now presumably staring at another off-season quarterback decision, despite Jalen Hurts’ selection in the 2nd round of the 2020 NFL Draft. And the Miami Dolphins can absolutely be of service in Philadelphia’s bid to secure a top quarterback.
But it will not come as easily as we suggested yesterday.
Because, as we outlined when exploring the dynamics of a potential Eagles & Dolphins trade to flip picks # 3 and 6 in April’s NFL Draft, the obvious parallel was to pull into the trade in Colts and Jets in 2018 for Sam Darnold. Through that deal, the Jets sent two second-round picks from that same year and another from the following year to Indianapolis to flip picks. But the Philadelphia Eagles, based on Wentz to the Colts trading terms, don’t have two second-round picks this year. As the Colts refused to send a 2nd round pick to Philadelphia for Wentz in 2021.
The Eagles acquired 85th overall pick in 2021 and a conditional 2nd round pick in 2022 that could become a 1st round pick depending on Wentz’s performance at Indianapolis – who throws some cold water on our original proposal yesterday:
After the Eagles move Wentz, the team could theoretically send the following package to move up three places:
No. 6 in general
No. 37 overall
No. 52 overall or No. 54 overall (assuming trade with Chicago or Indianapolis for Wentz)
A 2nd round choice from 2022This may seem like a steep price to pay, but keep in mind that the Jets made the exact same transaction with the Colts in 2018. That deal sent picks # 37 & 49 from the 2018 NFL Draft and a 2019 2nd round (# 34 in total). ” – Dolphin wire
The best the Eagles could do now based on this mindset is send one second round in 2021 and two in 2022; and even then, they may not have two picks in the second round if Wentz meets the conditions to promote the Colts pick to a 1st-rounder.
This is now getting complicated because the Eagles cannot guarantee they have the choices necessary to replicate the Darnold trade. And Miami should rightfully want a better 2021 payout to come out of third place overall than adding just one pick from round two. So this possibility is not dead; nowhere near. But the Eagles’ desperation to get a top-3 quarterback will determine whether Miami can swing this deal or not; because the dolphins won’t discount Philadelphia just because they got a bad instant return for Wentz.