In the history of the Philadelphia Eagles, the 2017 season stands alone.
It’s not hard to understand why. It’s because the Eagles won the one and only Super Bowl in franchise history that year, upsetting the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII.
There was just so much more to it than just that game. The drama surrounding the Eagles’ season revolved almost centrally around the quarterback position, where 2016 No. 2 overall pick Carson Wentz established himself as one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks before suffering a season-ending torn ACL in Week 14. From then on, he watched as backup Nick Foles led the team to a Super Bowl win.
Now, almost a decade later, Wentz is facing his old team in Super Bowl LIX as the backup to Patrick Mahomes on the Kansas City Chiefs. He’ll also face the quarterback who eventually replaced him in Philadelphia with quarterback Jalen Hurts, who took over for Wentz when he was benched with 4 games left in the 2020 season.
Wentz addressed his time in Philadelphia during Super Bowl Media Day on February 3 — and how the Super Bowl win by the Eagles in 2017 essentially signaled the end of his short time as an elite NFL quarterback.
“Obviously, it was a tough ending, without a doubt,” Wentz told Eliot Shorr-Parks of 94WIP. “It was the COVID year, too, so everything about it was just weird the way it kind of unfolde … A lot of great memories, a lot of good times. Winning the Super Bowl was amazing. A lot of memories and friendships that I’ll have the rest of my life. There are definitely no hard feelings. You wish it would have went a different way, all those things. But you can’t really kind of have any regrets on that front.”
Injury Changed Trajectory of Wentz’s NFL Career
Wentz was the No. 2 overall pick by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2016 NFL draft — current Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff went No. 1 overall to the Los Angeles Rams — and was on a rocket ship trajectory to NFL stardom before his career went off the rails due to an untimely injury.
Wentz was the full-time starter for the Eagles as a rookie in 2016 and went 7-9. Wentz led the Eagles to an 11-2 record in his second season in 2017 and looked like one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks before he tore his ACL.
Wentz’s reputation took a big hit during the Super Bowl run when reports came out that Wentz and veteran running back Darren Sproles had a physical confrontation after Sproles found out Wentz was telling teammates he wasn’t happy the Eagles were winning without him.
Eagles Still Delivered Mega-Contract to Wentz
While Wentz was still named an NFL All-Pro and Pro Bowler in 2017, his career was never the same — although he still cashed in with a 4-year, $128 million contract extension before the 2019 season.
Wentz was eventually traded to the Indianapolis Colts before the 2021 season, then traded from the Colts to the Washington Commanders before the 2022 season. The Commanders released Wentz after 1 season and he spent part of 2023 with the Los Angeles Rams before signing a 1-year, $3.325 million contract with the Chiefs in April 2024.
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