It’s been a strange journey for Carson Wentz. Even though the quarterback is now with his third pro team, Commanders head coach Ron Rivera is confident that this time will be the charm.
“All those guys come out and say, man, this guy was a good teammate, this was a guy that pulled us tighter, this was a guy that helped us get where we are or headed toward — you feel positive about that, you really do,” Rivera told Rich Eisen (audio link via NBCSports.com). “And it’s an exciting thing to hear that, that his teammates spoke of him in that fashion.”
Wentz was widely panned for his Week 18 showing against the Jaguars, the loss that cost the Colts a playoff spot. He also clashed with team brass throughout the year, leading some to question Wentz’s character. Still, Rivera & Co. see real potential in the former No. 2 overall pick, especially after he posted a solid 27-7 TD-INT ratio.
“The one thing I do look at is the fact that at one point he was 11-2 [in 2017],” said Rivera. “And, of course, he hurt his knee in a year he was talked about in the MVP conversation. So, there’s a lot of things that go into play, a lot of things happen. But, to us, this was a positive. We were looking for a guy of his stature, with his kind of ability. So to be able to pick him up and make the deal for him, we feel very positive about that.”
Here’s more from D.C.:
- Curtis Samuel hardly played for his new squad last year, but the wide receiver says he’s ready to go full speed (via Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post). “I’ve been training and working out, and I haven’t been limited to anything,” he said. “I’ve been doing pretty much everything that I used to be able to do — running fast, cutting fast. I’m just feeling good overall, and I’m excited about it. This upcoming season, I got a lot of goals.” In the 2021 offseason, Samuel inked a three-year deal worth up to $35.25MM with $24.5MM guaranteed. Unfortunately, his groin injury limited him to just five games last year.
- A former Commanders exec submitted a 22-page letter to the Federal Trade Commission, detailing years of alleged financial impropriety. The Commanders have responded, calling the allegations “baseless,” “false and reckless,” and based on “pure speculation,” (via ESPN.com’s John Keim).
I wouldn’t pin too much hope on Wentz or Samuel, but this might be DC fans’ best hope of ousting Snyder. He’s done a lot of bad stuff, but hiding money from the other owners is the thing that would actually get him the boot.
Working in the finance industry, which is a rarity to see on here, but if that claim by the exec is true Snyder is absolutely done. 100%, him and I’m positive most of the senior leadership would be absolutely canned. He and the Commanders would be in some serious hot legal water with it. They essentially had two books of accounts, one shared with the NFL and the other with Snyder, the Snyder one was actually accurate, but the one sent to the NFL has underreported ticket sales and revenue. That’s fraud in the most basic sense. And highly, HIGHLY, unethical. Not to mention the $5 million dollars they held from their fans who put down security deposits for premium box suites and seats, and pretty much they hid the fact that it was supposed to be returned within 30 days, Snyder changed it when he bought the team in ‘99, and made it nearly nigh impossible to get the security deposit back, and despite the 30 day agreement, people who inherited the seats or forgot about them. Essentially it’s contractual fraud due to it being a security deposit. Security deposits, aren’t your money technically, you need to return it unless the outlined contractual obligations or damages are breached, or (I guess it really depends on the deposit details which I don’t have), there is a good enough reason for the deposit to be withheld. Either way this is HIGHLY unethical, improper and financial impropriety in the most basic sense. They also lied about gate ticket availability, various revenue sources, and apparently also defrauded shareable revenue through a Notre Dame Navy game, which netted them an additional 162k, of non-shareable revenue. (That’s three years worth of my mothers salary).
I mean of course they’re going to deny it, but with the whole culture of the Commanders and Snyder being the man he is, would not surprise me of financial impropriety being committed at this large of a scale.
The problem with proving this is the time frame, and such, but with the current culture investigation and such, I’m BEYOND surprised the NFL didn’t find this financial misuse.
Yep. And like I said, the other owners care about that stuff more than they care about everything else wrong with Snyder combined.
agreed, this seems way bigger of a deal than the blurb it got if shady snyder has really been hiding revenue
This may finally be the thing that gets Dan Synder out of league. I’m curious if the owners oust him, would the league step in and run the team until it could be sold? I remember it happened in baseball, but don’t recall in football.
I think it would be like the Dodgers or Clippers and they’d be able to find a buyer at breakneck speed.
Jeff Bezos wants a team and has businesses in DC already.
From the Eagles:
You’ll be sorry!!! Looking forward to sweeping DC this year.
Wentz is the 3rd best QB currently employed by Washington.
More turmoil in the Philly FO. What in the world is going on there?
The firing of the Eagles’ scouting director post has its comments section closed. Is Zachary Links an Eagles’ fan?
Maybe the scouting director was scouting for a different type of “talent”. Maybe he pulled up the wrong bio on his computer in the draft room? Or, maybe he and Howie couldn’t get on the same page? Or, maybe he upstaged Howie and Howie canned him? It has to be pretty big for comments to be shut down.
Kind of annoying to have comments closed.
I’ve long been a fan of Riverboat Ron but when exactly did he become an expert on QBs? Stick to doing what you do best Ron…building a defense.
Wentz is a journeyman. Sorry Ron.
Samuel made a mess of his 2021 season. It would be a mistake to rely on him being healthy in 2022.