Commanders Release Carson Wentz One Season After Trading For QB

In Washington, the days of Carson Wentz are over. Only one season after obtaining the seasoned quarterback in a trade with the Indianapolis Colts last summer, the Commanders formally fired him on Monday. At the time, Washington traded a number of Day 2 draught selections, including one in the second round last year, in an effort to find a quarterback solution, but Wentz continued to struggle and made only seven starts for the team. The organisation had been quite open about their decision to go a new path at quarterback for 2023, so this move was seen as a formality. Not to mention that the Commanders have freed up $26.17 million in salary cap room by releasing Wentz. It was unreasonable to anticipate that Wentz would stay on the team for that amount considering his basic salary of $20 million and cap charge of around $26.1 million for the upcoming season. With the Commanders in 2022, Wentz started the first six games of the season, but the team struggled to a 2-4 start. The 30-year-old quarterback had average performance during that span, completing 62% of his passes with an 84.1 passer rating as he threw 10 touchdown passes and six interceptions. Even with a mediocre start to the season, Wentz was placed on injured reserve in Week 6 against the Chicago Bears after breaking his ring finger on his throwing hand. Taylor Heinicke was able to play for the most of the season as a result, and Wentz only received one more start, which came in a Week 17 defeat to the Browns during which he threw three interceptions. As for Wentz's future, it appears like his days of being a team's long-term starting quarterback option are over. That doesn't mean he wouldn't still be useful to a team in the league as a seasoned backup, though.