Major news from the NFL broke last Friday, as the Philadelphia Eagles announced that they will finally be parting ways with quarterback Carson Wentz. The Eagles dealt Wentz to the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for a third-round pick in this year’s NFL draft and a conditional second-round pick in the 2022 draft.

Wentz’s five-year stint in Philadelphia was quite the roller coaster, with an MVP-caliber season in 2017-2018 when the team won Super Bowl LII, as well as a tumultuous 2020, where he led the league in turnovers (despite being benched for the last five weeks of the season). The potential that Wentz showed early in his career made it difficult for the Eagles coaching staff to bench him. However, a 3-7-1 record in 2020 was enough for head coach Doug Peterson to sideline Wentz and start rookie Jalen Hurts, whose running ability added a new dimension to an Eagles offense that was stagnant under Wentz. Now, almost a month after they ousted Peterson from his head coaching position, the Eagles front office decided to move on from Wentz and continue the Hurts experiment (assuming they do not draft a quarterback with their No. 6 overall pick in the upcoming draft).

Moving forward, the Eagles’ organization is deeply entrenched in the rebuilding phase. After giving Wentz a contract worth $128 million just two years ago, the Eagles had to take a cap hit of $34 million on Friday just to let Wentz go. Additionally, the Eagles have holes at most positions in their starting depth chart.

The offensive line gave up a league-high 65 sacks and ran 14 different offensive line combinations in 16 games last season. The receiving core has lots of potential (Jalen Reagor, Travis Fulgham and Greg Ward Jr. showed flashes of solid play last season), though they are young and inexperienced. On the defensive side of the ball, the Eagles secondary does not scare opposing quarterbacks due to the lack of true playmakers and shut-down corners on the back end.

On the other side, it appears that the Indianapolis Colts got Wentz for a bargain. Considering the Colts’ depth chart has no glaring holes in it, they do not lose much by giving away their third-round pick this year. Also, the 2022 conditional pick that they gave the Eagles has some interesting strings attached to it.

If Wentz does not play more than 75% of Indy’s snaps on offense next season, the pick is downgraded to a mere second-rounder. This is an important caveat because of Wentz’s shaky history with injuries. Wentz has had two separate season-ending injuries: one ACL/MCL tear in 2017, and one fractured vertebra in 2018. Of course, the conditional pick could be a first-rounder if Wentz is successful in Indianapolis. However, that is not going to anger any Colts fans considering they would have just found their new franchise quarterback.

The future in Indy looks bright. Wentz will have no shortage of options to give the ball to: wide receivers T.Y. Hilton and Michael Pittman Jr. both had solid seasons last year, and Jonathan Taylor and Nyheim Hines are looking like one of the top RB duos in the NFL. Up front, the Colts have a stout offensive line led by 3-time All-Pro Quenton Nelson. On top of that, the Colts had a top-10 defense in the NFL last year that will only get better as their young players continue to improve. The Colts have many reasons to be excited about the 2021-2022 season, but one question remains: can Wentz make a comeback and return to his old form?