The Indianapolis Colts are seemingly in a rock and a hard place when it comes to the future of quarterback Carson Wentz. The Colts immediately entered the contender conversation when they acquired the talented signal-caller from the Philadelphia Eagles last offseason. Indy was red-hot for a stretch in the regular season but royally collapsed at the end of the season, as they were shockingly eliminated from playoff contention by the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars. Such a loss like that would make any franchise rethink their quarterback position- which it seems that the Colts are. With trade speculation in the air, there is one key move that the Colts must make with Wentz in the 2022 NFL offseason.
The Colts must restructure Carson Wentz' contract in the 2022 NFL offseason. What?! It sounds crazy but it might just be their best course of action. As reported by Cynthia Frelund of NFL.com, Wentz was one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL by the statistic, completion percentage over expected. He is also set to make just over $22 million in 2022. The Colts have a fair amount of cap space, but they could have even more if they opt to lower Wentz' cap figure.
This would allow Indy to seriously look at not only the offensive line market but also, perhaps the wide receiver and tight end markets. Restructuring Wentz' contract could allow the Colts to be more involved this offseason while simultaneously getting more bang for their buck when it comes to their signal-caller. This decision obviously involves the Colts keeping Wentz, which won't make Indy fans very happy.
Article Continues BelowHowever, think of it this way. The Colts play in one of the weaker divisions in the sport, with bottom-feeders like the Houston Texans and Jaguars in the AFC South. If the Colts trade Wentz, they will be effectively admitting that they're not good enough for the second consecutive year. They might as well just rebuild and select a quarterback in the draft at that point, which would be admitting not only defeat, but also that the franchise made a mistake by acquiring Wentz in the first place.
Can that really be determined after one year? The Colts need to restructure Carson Wentz' contract, go shopping in free agency and make a run at the AFC next year. If they find themselves in this same position next year, then getting rid of Wentz can be a real conversation.