Carson Wentz Trade: NFL Insider Hints Jimmy Garoppolo is the Indianapolis Colts’ Next Target
A day after Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson rocked the NFL, the hits keep on coming. The Indianapolis Colts executed a Carson Wentz trade, sending the polarizing quarterback to the Washington Commanders. This begs the question, who will be the Colts’ next QB? NFL Insider Ian Rapoport provided a possible answer: San Francisco 49ers signal-caller Jimmy Garoppolo.
Indianapolis Colts pull off a Carson Wentz trade with the Washington Commanders
The Washington Commanders reportedly called every team in the NFL that may have a quarterback available in the 2022 offseason. That made Tuesday a bad day for the newly-minted Commanders.
Aaron Rodgers announced he is staying with the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks traded Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos. That is two of the big three QB fish of the 2022 offseason, and the third top tier QB, Deshaun Watson, has lots of question marks surrounding him. Plus, bringing in a player with ongoing legal cases involving women to an organization with ongoing legal cases involving women would not be good for Washington.
This reality narrowed the QB market for quarterback-needy teams. It also apparently motivated the Commanders to make a move, so they aren’t the last team without a chair when the music stops.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting that the Carson Wentz trade involves the Commanders sending a 2022 third-round pick, a 2023 third-round pick (“that can become a second if Carson Wentz plays 70 percent of plays”), and a 2022 second-round pick to the Indianapolis Colts for a Wentz and their 2022 second-round pick.
The Commanders are also picking up Wentz’s entire $28 million salary in 2022, per Schefter on Twitter.
It’s a decent haul for a passer with a career 44-40-1 record. However, it doesn’t completely mitigate the 2022 first-round, and 2021 third-round picks the Colts sent to the Philadelphia Eagles to get Wentz in the first place.
Now that the Wentz Era in Indiana is officially over, the question becomes, who’s next?
Ian Rapoport hints Jimmy Garoppolo could be the Colts’ target
In just over 24 hours, the 2022 offseason quarterback market went from filled with possibilities to a rapidly closing window.
After the Carson Wentz trade, three of the top QBs rumored to move in 2022 have their situations settled. That leaves a dwindling number of starting-caliber signal-callers (possibly) still available.
Tom Brady, Deshaun Watson, Derek Carr, Ryan Tannehill, Gardner Minshew, Jordan Love, Mitchell Trubisky, Jamies Winston, Cam Newton, and Jimmy Garoppolo are the names still out there who will or could potentially move this offseason. And, for players like Brady, Carr, and Tannehill, the chances of playing for a new (or, in Brady’s case, any) team in 2022 is highly unlikely.
The fact is, though, the Indianapolis Colts need a quarterback now. They need one desperately, as the team was an embarrassing Week 18 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars away from making the playoffs.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport took to Twitter shortly after the Colts made the Carson Wentz trade and wrote, “The #Colts have now entered the QB race again, and expect them to be in the mix for Jimmy Garoppolo, as well.”
While the insider stopped short of saying “sources say” Jimmy G is the Colts’ top target, that tweet suggests that Rapoport believes that to be true.
If Garoppolo is the target, the Colts need to act swiftly and decisively to get him.
With every QB that comes off the market, the price for the remaining ones goes up. Plus, with a $26.9 million cap hit next year, the San Francisco 49ers could afford to keep Garoppolo and 2021 draft pick Trey Lance.
Your move, Chris Ballard.
The Carson Wentz trade makes for some fun matchups in 2022
NFL fans will have to wait another month or so to start circling their calendars, but after the Carson Wentz trade, we know there’s going to be a few wild matchups on the Washington Commanders schedule.
Heading back to the NFC East, Wentz will have to play the team that drafted him out of North Dakota State (No. 2 overall) in 2016 twice.
The Philadelphia Eagles games are now must-watch matchups as Wentz will have to return to the City of Brotherly Love — where the team won a Super Bowl without him — for the first time as a visitor.
If Philly fans don’t get riled up enough when the Washington franchise comes to town, this game should be extra Philly-y.
Also, as luck would have it, the AFC South and the NFC East play each other this season. This means Wentz and the Commanders will travel to Indianapolis to face the Colts at some point, per Commanders.com.
These three games will either be the Wentz Revenge Tour or a shining reminder to Colts and Eagles fans why they gave up on a highly-drafted QB. Either way, they will certainly help us declare a winner and a loser in the Carson Wentz trade by seeing what happens head-to-head on the field.
All contract figures courtesy of Spotrac
