[MTK]

From a recent article on The Athletic regarding Wentz, main reason why they are on the fence with him

The three words that stuck out to me most during Ballard’s 66-minute postseason news conference after the season:

Make the layups.

That was a window into the GM’s lengthy conversation with his quarterback after the Week 18 collapse; Ballard was urging Wentz to stop playing hero ball, to instead make the smarter, safer decisions he got away from in the season’s final two games. “Just make the layups,” Ballard urged his QB.

And it wasn’t just an issue at the end; Wentz was guilty of this all year. It’s the conundrum the QB has battled throughout his career, and led to his benching in Philadelphia in 2020. He plays overly aggressive, taking unnecessary risks that can bury his team. Sometimes they pay off. Oftentimes, they don’t.

Wentz largely kept this in check in Indianapolis — an encouraging sign after his dismal last year with the Eagles — but he became unglued in Jacksonville. He missed open receivers in the flat. His footwork was sloppy, his decision-making hesitant, then reckless. He panicked on some snaps, forcing the ball down the field into heavy coverage. Because of the way their quarterback played, especially after halftime, the Colts never had a shot.

“You’ve got to be able to get the ball out of your hands quickly,” Ballard said. “You’ve got to be able to get the ball out and take the easy completion when it comes, and that is a big part of Frank’s offense.”

Asked if Wentz was capable of improving in this area — if a QB who’s played the game one way his entire life can, at the age of 30, learn to play more disciplined — Ballard’s answer seemed more like a shrug of the shoulders, and a telling one at that.

“I think that’s something we’ve got to work through,” the GM said.

Most worrisome is Wentz was a sixth-year quarterback in 2021, still having trouble knowing when to throw it away, still refusing to check it down, still having issues reading a defense. It’s not a coincidence a year after making 63 catches from Philip Rivers, shifty running back Nyheim Hines had just 40 this past season with Wentz. No quarterback is perfect, but the fact that Wentz, in game No. 103 of his career, struggled with the most essential components to quarterbacking is, at the very least, an alarming red flag.

“Still been walking that one out my whole career,” Wentz said before the season, “trying every day to figure out how to toe the line of being aggressive, trying to be a playmaker, trying to make things happen, but being smart.”