Carson Wentz vs. Doug Pederson: Most compelling matchup of NFL kickoff weekend

Doug Pederson and Carson Wentz will hug near the middle of FedEx Field before their teams play Sunday, but their affection will be as fake as my suede Gucci loafers. The embrace will have the warmth of a November night in North Dakota. Remember when Tupac’s “Bishop” squashed it with Omar’s “Q” in Juice?

Yeah. That.

Pederson and Wentz have spent the last 20 or so months dutifully minimizing their disdain for one another. Their minimization campaign has failed; if you think they don’t have any hard feelings, then you probably believe LIV golfers are actually “growing the game.” These wounds run deep.

When, in the history of the NFL, has there been such a dramatic and spiteful split between a truculent franchise quarterback and his ham-handed mentor? Pederson spent a year out of work. Wentz spent a year in a purgatory called Indianapolis where he enhanced his reputation as a horrible teammate.

Wentz now is the Commanders’ quarterback. Pederson’s the Jaguars’ coach. With all due respect to the soulless Cleveland Browns, Wentz and Pederson work for the worst NFL franchises of the past decade ... but they provide the best Week 1 storyline in the league.

Well done, NFL schedulers.

Few quarterbacks will ever be tied to their first coach, and vice versa, the way Wentz and Pederson are clove-hitched to each other.

Pederson, in his first — and, at that point, likely his only head-coaching opportunity — staked his future to the development of a talented hick from a third-tier program who was as raw off the field as he was on it. Neither was ready for the spotlight in which they found themselves in 2016. Neither handled the brighter lights after Wentz’s breakout 2017 season, and Philadelphia’s only Super Bowl — a title that, now, seems to have been coincidental to each of their presences. Wentz didn’t play, and Pederson got no credit as coach.

Fast-forward through Wentz’s injuries and front-office foibles and Pederson’s rudderless reign, and, by the end of 2020, they weren’t even speaking. They claim that bygones are just that, but they still aren’t exchanging holiday cards.

Both claim Christianity as their guiding light, but Immanuel himself would have a hard time turning the other cheek after what these two did to each other.

Wentz cost Pederson his job; first with his play, then with his petulance.

He was, objectively, the worst quarterback in the NFL for the first 12 weeks of 2020. He’d freelanced on the field for much of the season, and he’d been ignoring Pederson at the NovaCare Complex for several weeks when Pederson pulled him at halftime of Game 12.

It all came crashing down for Wentz when Pederson benched him for good in favor of Jalen Hurts, a second-round rookie who was, at that point, more halfback than quarterback. Wentz already resented the fact that GM Howie Roseman had drafted Hurts — purely as injury insurance, and Wentz resented the fact that Pederson endorsed the pick. Wentz drove himself crazy at the thought that Hurts was taking over for him during a playoff hunt.

Immediately, Wentz began thinking about playing elsewhere. As Hurts succeeded and a quarterback controversy loomed for 2021, Wentz signaled that he considered competition beneath him.

When the season ended, the Eagles indicated that Pederson would return as coach, so Wentz let it be known he wanted out; one report called their relationship “fractured beyond repair.”

Pederson was fired the following week. Was it all Wentz?

Yes, the Eagles went 4-11-1. Yes, Pederson was, at times, awful. Yes, Pederson wanted owner Jeffrey Lurie and Roseman to stop meddling with his coaching staff hires.

But Lurie and Roseman were desperate to retain Wentz, whom they owed $33 million against the 2021 salary cap. Think of it this way: If Wentz had wanted Pederson to remain, all he had to do was say so.

Instead, Wentz boycotted his exit interview.

» READ MORE: It sure looks like Carson Wentz got Jeffrey Lurie to fire Doug Pederson as Eagles coach | Marcus Hayes

All of this came on the heels of Pederson’s biggest coaching gaffe. With the playoff fates of the Giants and Washington at stake in the Eagles’ season finale, Pederson replaced Hurts with Nate Sudfeld for the final quarter against Washington. Sudfeld’s misplays cemented an Eagles loss, which cost the Giants their playoff slot, and the cognoscenti wailed. It smelled a lot like tanking, whether Pederson lost on purpose or not.

» READ MORE: Doug Pederson’s tank strategy in Eagles’ finale will haunt him, NFL sources agree | Marcus Hayes

Between Wentz’s regression, and Pederson’s inability to manage Wentz’s personality, and the team’s struggles after top offensive assistants Frank Reich and John DeFilippo left, Pederson became essentially untouchable. Consider: Pederson was a Super Bowl-winning coach who won four playoff games in 2017 and 2018 with backup Nick Foles and developed Wentz from a projected third-stringer as a rookie to a Day 1 starter in the span of a single training camp.

Nevertheless, Pederson got zero head-coaching interviews in the 2021 hiring season. He got only one other interview in 2022, with the Saints. It took the Jaguars more than a month to decide that Pederson was their guy.

One way to make sure he’d never coach again: Blame Carson.

So, Pederson doesn’t.

Neither Wentz nor Pederson has ever confirmed the degree of animosity that has been reported. Pederson, in a 2021 podcast, tried to diminish that sort of talk: “There’s a little misnomer out there, that Carson and I were on such bad terms.”

Whatever.

Current and former players, former coaches, and former executives still agree: If anything, the bad blood between Wentz and Pederson was under-reported.

At any rate, Wentz was convinced that, even without Pederson, he would be better off in Indianapolis with Reich, his old offensive coordinator. That’s the trade he wanted, and that’s the trade he got.

Then, in perhaps the most awkward drop-in visit in league history, Pederson showed up at Colts training camp in 2021.

There, he actually hugged Carson Wentz.

In describing the visit to reporter Peter King, Pederson finally acknowledged the rivers of bad blood between them:

“It was natural. It was real. I saw him, and hugged him. Carson and I always had a great relationship, and I have great regard for him, and I didn’t want what happened at the end to tarnish that. He moved on, I moved on, and let’s be men about it.”

Two things. One: If you have to say a hug was natural and real, it wasn’t. Two: “If what happened at the end” might “tarnish” your regard for each other, then things didn’t ended badly.

This week, when asked about their imminent reunion, each threw the requisite bouquets.

“I thought he was a great coach, great guy, fun to be around. Meant a lot over the years. Went through a lot of good and some of the bad, obviously, altogether,” Wentz said. “But he means a lot to me.”

Eye roll.

“It’s going to be fun to watch him play,” Pederson said. “He’s on the other side, and we want to win, but he’s a competitor. He’s going to do everything in his power to win that football game as well, and I’m looking forward to competing against him.”

Oh, yeah.

You bet he is.

Inquirer Eagles beat reporters EJ Smith and Josh Tolentino preview the team’s season opener against the Detroit Lions. Watch at Inquirer.com/EaglesGameday