The unintended trail-blazing way Carson Wentz led Kenny Pickett to Eagles, spun QB carousel

PHILADELPHIA − So here the Eagles are with Kenny Pickett, a first-round draft pick just two years ago, content as their backup quarterback.

It's as if Pickett's former team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, told the Eagles: "This used car only has a few thousand miles on it, but we'll give it to you for the low, low price of ... a draft pick swap of 22 places from No. 120 to 98, and two seventh-round picks."

No wonder why the Eagles said, "Sold!"

After all, Pickett is still on his rookie contract, with salary cap hits of $2 million this season and $2.6 million the next. The Eagles still have one full year to decide to spend big money to keep Pickett by picking up his fifth-year option for 2026, which for a quarterback would be in the $25 million range.

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Of course, the Eagles won't do that. That is, unless something goes horrifically wrong with Jalen Hurts, who is technically entering the first year of his five-year extension worth as much as $255 million.

Ideally, Pickett will never get the chance to play, let alone start, for the Eagles, and he knows it.

"This is a good reset," Pickett said Monday. "Getting a chance to play on this team, in that quarterback room, with a couple great guys, helping those guys out. I’ll just be ready when my number’s called somewhere down the road.

"It’s a crazy, crazy league, crazy business."

And this "crazy business" that Pickett describes goes back to Carson Wentz.

The Eagles famously traded Wentz after the 2020 season, less than a year after signing him to a four-year extension worth as much as $128 million. It was a brief NFL record contract at the time, just like Hurts' was when he signed his deal last April.

By trading Wentz, the Eagles incurred a salary cap hit of $34.8 million in 2021. That was also a record at the time.

But the Eagles proved to NFL teams that nine-figure contracts don't have to be albatrosses that end up leaving teams stuck with bad and expensive quarterbacks for years. The Broncos showed this by releasing Russell Wilson and incurring $85 million in dead money over this season and next.

The Eagles, meanwhile got better by moving on and playing Hurts. They haven't missed the playoffs since trading Wentz and reached the Super Bowl in 2022.

But the Wentz trade also proved something else, and that ultimately led Pickett to the Eagles: Teams aren't waiting for a young quarterback to develop, let alone become eligible for massive contract extensions, before cutting ties.

We saw this four times already in less than a week.

The Steelers traded Pickett, who in two seasons threw as many interceptions (13) as he did touchdown passes. One day after trading Pickett to the Eagles, the Steelers traded for Justin Fields, the Bears' first-round pick in 2021, who's now backing up (wait for it) ... Wilson.

The Bears, of course, have the No. 1 pick, and they're taking a quarterback. But they could have kept Fields and used their two top-10 picks (No. 1 and No. 9) on supporting him, like they did by signing free-agent receiver Keenan Allen.

But there's more. The Falcons traded Desmond Ridder (third round, 2022) to the Cardinals, where he'll back up Kyler Murray. And the Commanders traded Sam Howell (fifth round, 2022) to the Seahawks, where he'll back up Geno Smith.

This is not necessarily a new phenomenon, just an accelerated one, thanks to Wentz. See Sam Darnold, Trey Lance, and soon, Zach Wilson.

Even Pickett knows this. Two years ago, he was the Steelers' franchise quarterback to replace Ben Roethlisberger. That was still the case as recently as four months ago when he suffered a high ankle sprain that required surgery. But when Pickett was ready to return, the Steelers had decided to stick with Mason Rudolph.

And now, they're going with Wilson, with Fields as the backup.

"I think you go into this league with an open mind," Pickett said about his plight. "You hear so many crazy stories. ... Everyone wants to win now. It’s an extremely competitive league. It’s just kind of how the business has transpired over these past couple of years.

"But I think as young players, everyone kind of understands what you’re getting yourself into when you make it to this level."

Pickett said he'll make the best of it. The difference is, if Pickett was a free agent, he could have chosen a situation where he'd at least have a chance to start. But all things considered, Pickett said it couldn't have worked out better.

That's because Pickett is playing near where he grew up as an Eagles fan in Oakhurst, New Jersey. He attended games at the Linc with his family beginning when he was 5 years old.

"It’s pretty surreal, and a full-circle moment for me," he said. "It’s an hour-and-15 minute drive (for his family) instead of 5½ (hours to Pittsburgh)."

As for Wentz, he's still on the quarterback carousel. He spent the 2021 season with the Colts, who traded him to the Commanders after that season. The Commanders released Wentz after the 2022 season rather than pay him another $28 million.

Wentz was out of a job until the Rams signed him last November to be Matthew Stafford's backup. Wentz started one game, and now he's looking for work again after the Rams signed Jimmy Garoppolo to be Stafford's backup.

The NFL waits for no one, as Wentz can attest. And now, so can Pickett.

Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on X @Mfranknfl.