Former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz has had a unique career in the NFL. He was highly-touted coming out of college, and he was well on his way to winning the NFL MVP Award during his second season in 2017 before suffering a season-ending knee injury.
Then, the Eagles went on to win the Super Bowl without Wentz that same season, and it seems like he never really fully recovered — either physically or mentally.
Wentz stuck around in Philly for a couple more seasons, but he was ultimately supplanted by the superior Jalen Hurts, The Eagles ultimately traded the former first round pick, and he’s spent the seasons since bouncing around the NFL.
Since departing Philadelphia, Wentz has now spent time with the Indianapolis Colts, Washington Commanders, Los Angeles Rams and Kansas City Chiefs. He hasn’t been especially good in any of those spots, as indicated by the fact that teams continue to move on from him, but he has made a whole lot of money in the process: $131.9 million, to be exact.
Carson Wentz named one of the most overpaid players in NFL History
Wentz’s on-field productivity doesn’t match his bank account, and as a result he was recently named as one of the most overpaid players in NFL history by Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report. In the publication’s list of the 12 most overcompensated players ever, Wentz came in at No. 11 overall.
“He was never the same after that in Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Washington, Los Angeles or Kansas City, and he might be done at 32 after starting 16 games just twice in his pro career,” Gagnon wrote of Wentz.
Wentz deserves credit for helping to set the Eagles up for success in 2017, but he never really became the quarterback people hoped he would be when Philly selected him with the second overall pick in 2016. He was very solid during that ’17 season, but since another quarterback went on the win it all with the team, perhaps that tells you that the overall team was just really good, and Wentz benefitted from that.
Interestingly enough, every individual on Bleacher Report’s list of overpaid players is a quarterback. Ahead of Wentz on the list are Kirk Cousins, Dak Prescott, Sam Bradford, Deshaun Watson, Jay Cutler, Daniel Jones, Jimmy Garoppolo, Carson Palmer, Ryan Tannehill and Alex Smith. Joe Flacco is behind him on the list.
Clearly, this list tells us that teams are willing to invest heavily in the quarterback position. But, those investments don’t always work out. Given the importance placed on QB play in today’s NFL, that pattern is unlikely to change in the near future. Luckily, the Eagles already got their guy in Hurts, who won’t be popping up on any lists of the most overpaid players.