The key to getting a first-round pick for Carson Wentz? Multiple bidders, says Joe Banner

The Eagles' want a first-round pick in return for Carson Wentz? Is that a pipe dream? Joe Banner says the key will be getting multiple bidders for him.

Carson Wentz (left) and Jared Goff (right) were the top 2 picks in the 2016 draft. Goff was traded earlier this week. Wentz is expected to be moved soon.Read moreYONG KIM / Staff Photographer

by Paul Domowitch

Published Feb. 6, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ET

Former Eagles president Joe Banner is doing a weekly Q&A with Inquirer pro football writer Paul Domowitch. This week, the two discuss, among other things, the impact of the Jared Goff-Matthew Stafford trade on moving Carson Wentz, all of the fuss over Nick Sirianni’s coming-out press conference, Andy Reid’s pursuit of another Super Bowl, how a higher-than-expected salary cap will help the Eagles, free agency, and the future of Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott:

Domo: Before we discuss Carson Wentz and what’s going to happen with him, let’s talk a little about the Jared Goff-Matthew Stafford trade. What’s your take on that weird deal, which saw the Rams not only trade away a guy they gave a $134 million extension to 17 months ago, but also give up two first-round picks?

JB: I think it’s a deal that actually made a lot of sense for both teams. You can argue whether the compensation was fair or how much of it had to do with taking on (Goff’s) contract. But clearly, the Rams have made a lot of decisions based on a short window. It doesn’t mean they’ll just crash after that. But I think Stafford is a meaningful upgrade at quarterback.

On the other hand, Detroit has a guy in Goff that they think has a chance to be successful in their system. But if he’s not, then they still walk away with two first-round picks (in 2022 and 2023) and a third-round pick (in 2021).

Domo: But from the Rams’ standpoint, giving up two No. 1s and a No. 3 seems like a pretty steep price to pay to get rid of a guy you took with the first pick in the draft five years ago, even if you are getting Stafford in return. And Stafford, by the way, is 7 years older (33) than Goff.

JB: I think it’s the combination of the Goff contract and the fact that those picks are in 2022 and 2023. Still saying that, it is a bit more than I expected. That’s why it’s hard to know how much of it is related to the contract.

Domo: How surprised are you at how quickly Sean McVay and Rams GM Les Snead soured on Goff? And why aren’t they getting more grief for it?

JB: If I was in that building in the president’s or owner’s seat, we’d be having a strong conversation. And by that, I mean, everybody would need to explain what happened here. From what we gave up to draft him through giving him the contract to finding yourself in a position where, forget the compensation, we want to move on from him. I mean, you don’t give out that kind of contract without some very strong, broad-based feelings within the building that this is absolutely the guy.

In the case of McVay, who not only is the head coach but the head of the offense, it’s safe to assume he was not only OK with that but actually was pushing for it to happen. You can’t just plow through things like this without learning from your mistakes. Or you’re not doing yourself any favors.

Domo: OK, so, what’s the impact of the Goff-Stafford trade on a potential Wentz trade. I mean, the word from One NovaCare Way is that they want a No. 1 pick for him. But the Rams had to give up two No.1s to get rid of Goff, who was picked ahead of Wentz, didn’t have nearly as horrendous a season as Wentz, and has a similar contract situation.

JB: Here’s the analogy to the Wentz situation. The reason the Lions were able to get so much was because they were able to create a bidding war (for Stafford). They had multiple teams interested. In that position, you can actually get teams to overpay. The question on Wentz and his compensation is, if the Eagles are able to get multiple teams seriously interested and get them to bid against each other, then getting a No. 1, or a No. 1 and another pick, is plausible to me.

If you step back from it and just ask what’s (Wentz and his contract) worth, in my mind expecting a team to give up a No. 1 or more for him would be overly optimistic. But again, if you have multiple bidders, all of that changes.

Domo: Do you think there are or will be multiple bidders?

JB: I think there will be multiple teams interested. Now, are they interested enough to step up and make a consequential offer so that you can play them off against each other? We don’t know that. There is a much longer list, at this point, of teams that absolutely are going to be doing something at the quarterback position. You’ve got San Francisco, Las Vegas, Chicago, the Colts. I mean, these are four teams that are going to do something significant at the quarterback position. At least they want to and are trying to.

If there are people that liked Wentz in the draft, and if there are people that think they can fix what is wrong with Wentz, then there is a chance of getting some consequential compensation. But things have to fall into the right place and they have to manage the situation very well for that to be the outcome.

Domo: According to reports, the Eagles have been “fielding” calls about Wentz and have “engaged” in some of those conversations just to get a feel for the level of interest. You’ve been involved in many situations like this, including the 2010 trade of Donovan McNabb. How do you interpret those reports?

JB: It’s not unusual, especially at this early a date, and as part of a negotiating strategy, to say to the agent, let’s go over a list of teams we think may be interested in your guy. And why don’t you call them? We don’t want to look weak or whatever it may be. There’s absolutely no doubt they want to trade him. They already have a strained relationship with him. It appears that they are taking the calls. I mean, Houston isn’t taking calls on Deshaun Watson right now. If a team calls them, they’re saying, we’re not interested. We’re not trading him. And they hang up the phone.

So, even if you hide behind the “fielding calls’' explanation, he can’t come back. The relationship is already badly damaged and now they’re taking calls to trade him. When I say he can’t come back, I’m not saying it couldn’t happen. But it would be a really, really bad idea at this point. It’s like you’re throwing wood on a fire that was already burning and problematic.

Bringing him back just became much more complicated and challenging. In my mind, if it’s accurate that they’re taking calls, and I think it is, then they’ve thrown more wood on the fire. Which is fine. It just means they’ve made the decision that, whether they like it or not, it’s best to move on from him at this point and we should just be dealing with that reality.

Now, it’s possible that there isn’t enough interest out there and that it doesn’t happen. But it has gone from a possibility to something that is very likely in my mind.

Domo: A lot of people thought the firing of Doug Pederson and hiring of Nick Sirianni was an indication that they wanted to keep Wentz and fix him. You never bought in to that thinking. Why?

JB: I was very clear last week that the thinking that Sirianni was hired to fix Wentz was upside down. In fact, when they hired the quarterbacks coach from Florida (Brian Johnson), I thought, if I’m reading anything from the hires, it’s that they’re going to move on from Wentz. That they’re going forward with (Jalen) Hurts or somebody else or not. That’s what Sirianni’s hire said to me. Just the opposite of the narrative that developed.

Domo: Sirianni got a lot of ridicule and criticism from both the media and fans for his performance at his coming-out press conference. Much ado about nothing?

JB: There are two narratives we know are false that still get repeated and believed by everybody. One is that if your coaching search lasts a long time, you didn’t have a good search process or didn’t get a good guy. History has shown that’s baloney. The second is that how you come off at your opening press conference has anything to do with how you’re going to do as a head coach. We need to stop saying those two things. There isn’t a correlation with either of them.

Domo: Jeffrey Lurie said Nick “blew us away” in his interview with them. Is he just trying to pump up the product?

JB: When a search takes a long time and then becomes unfairly characterized as badly organized, etc.., you do feel a little obligation to build up the public view of the coach. I think Jeff was just trying to help him get off to a good start. Were they very impressed and are they convinced he’s going to be a strong leader and strong head coach and put together a great staff? I don’t think they would have hired him if they didn’t believe that.

Domo: So, do you think Andy Reid wins his second straight Super Bowl Sunday?

JB: I still think Kansas City should win. But as somebody who’s talked about the lines being so critical, especially when good teams play each other, the Chiefs’ offensive-line injuries worry me. (Bucs defensive coordinator) Todd Bowles is a great defensive coach. He’s going to know how best to exploit that in a very aggressive fashion. But I’m going to stick with the Chiefs. Even with the injuries, they have a better team and they have a better coach. Usually when those two things are true, that team wins.

Domo: Andy is sixth all-time in coaching victories with 221. He’s just five behind Curly Lambeau and 29 behind Tom Landry, which will leave Don Shula, George Halas, and Bill Belichick as the only coaches in history with more wins than Big Red. He’s only 62 and has the best young quarterback in the game. See him retiring any time soon?

JB: He’s going to stay around as far into the future as we can see. I mean, he loves what he does. Has tremendous energy. As long as they have (Patrick) Mahomes, they’re going to be one of the top teams in the league, just like Belichick was with (Tom) Brady. He’s probably having the most fun he’s ever had. There’s a more at-ease appearance to him than I’ve ever seen.

Domo: As you said months ago, it looks like the cap is going to be higher, maybe much higher, than the $175 million that was initially projected for 2021. What impact will that have on teams like the Eagles that are facing significant cap challenges?

JB: This is a good thing for the league and the players and it’s a really good thing for the teams that, at least on paper, were challenged with where they were. As I’ve said before, even if it ends up at just $185 million and then there’s an anticipated big jump the following year, teams will be able to borrow a little bit from that. Even looking at the Eagles’ situation, where, when you see it on paper, you’re thinking, ‘Wow, they’re going to have to rip this team apart.’ There are a few older guys that we know were going to be gone regardless of the cap situation. If the cap comes in a little higher, they can borrow a little from next year, and before you know it, they don’t really have to do all that much to be in an OK position in a year where the cap goes down.

And if they move Wentz, depending on how they do it, (a higher cap) could help them quite a bit with that. Although, if I were them, I would just take the big hit this year (from the Wentz extension). That way you don’t have to worry about the future, it just cleans it all up.

Domo: That would be your recommendation? Take the full brunt of the cap hit this year, deal with the pain, and then have clear sailing in 2022?

JB: If I were in a position where I had an opportunity to trade him and just take this $35 million write-off that will exist, and I already had him on my cap table for that amount and then know going forward that I’m going to be in massively better shape on the cap than I had anticipated being, I’d do it.

Now, I may or may not have a quarterback who’s good enough. But I will have at least put myself in a long-term favorable cap position.

Domo: Let’s talk free agency. Because of the cap situation, some think there is going to be a first wave of players who are going to get paid this year, and then everybody else will be getting one-year deals. Is that probably an exaggeration of what’s actually going to happen?

JB: I do think we will see that to a degree. I think we’ll see more one-year contracts than usual. See more veterans on the street than usual. But if somebody is picturing that being the predominant outcome of free agency this year, I think they’re overstating things. I think we’ll see what we’ve seen in the past, just to a slightly lesser degree. There will be a ton of signings quickly involving huge money. Then we’ll see a group of more moderate multiyear deals signed. Then we’ll get into those shorter-term deals, which I do think will be more than usual but far from overwhelming.

Domo: Will there be fewer teams using the franchise tag this season because of the lower cap? And what will the Cowboys do about Dak Prescott? Will they re-sign him or franchise him one more time?

JB: I’ll be very surprised if Dak doesn’t get a new deal before we get into the new (league) year (in mid-March). He’s got as much leverage as any player has had in a very long time. And he plays the most important position in the game. So it’s just a question of how far he wants to push that.

As far as the tag question league-wide, it’s interesting. Obviously, the teams that are tight against the cap, it will be a struggle for them to use the tag. On the other hand, because the tags are going down in price effectively (because of the overall cap number), that could increase the number of teams with enough cap room to use it. Best guess is we’re going to end up with the same number (of tagged players). We’re just going to be getting there differently than in the past.