As Patriots head coach Bill Belichick put it over breakfast at the NFL owner's meeting on Tuesday (March 26), "the off-season is for making decisions".
And one of the bigger decisions made this off-season was the Philadelphia Eagles choice to let back-up quarterback Nick Foles reach free agency, sending a clear message that starter Carson Wentz is their man going forward.
Asked about how long that may be for, Eagles executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman made it clear he plans on Wentz being in Philedelphia for a while.
"We have a quarterback that we want to pay, that we want to extend long term, too, and how we're going to build our team with that player, which is exciting for us," Roseman told reporters:"We want to have a team led by a franchise-type quarterback. We know that we have that in Carson."
But when pressed on when an extention is likely to come, Roseman declined to answer:
"It's important to us that we have relationships with our players where we keep things in-house, and contract talks are a big part of that," Roseman said. "So, for us, we'll keep that. But, obviously, having Carson here long term is our goal, and we'll work toward that."
Wentz, entering the fourth year of his rookie contract, has a $720,000 base salary in 2019. While contract negotiations are likely to be taking place, the Eagles could use the talks as a way to feel Wentz out before opting to pick up a fifth-year, 2020 option for the quarterback.
Wentz's 2020 money would then be determined based upon his draft position (2nd overall; 2016), and is likely to sit around the same $20.9 million salary as Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota --who is playing on his fifth-year option after being selected in the same spot a year earlier.
The Eagles might be wise to let Wentz play another year on his current deal to see whether he can stay healthy. The signal caller missed eight regular season and all five possible post-season games - including Super Bowl 52 - due to injury in the last two seasons. He suffered a torn ACL in 2017 and a back fracture in 2018.
Since joining the Eagles in 2016, Wentz is 23-17 as a starter and has thrown for 10,152 yards and 70 touchdowns with 28 interceptions, per Pro Football Reference. He has another 542 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, and was named to the Pro Bowl in 2017.
COVER PHOTO: Flipboard
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