Carson Wentz talks Jim Irsay, the Colts’ rough exit

Carson Wentz publicly takes the high road, although he is surprised his former employer chose a lower road.

Wentz was traded to the Commanders after a season with the Colts that ended disastrously. After the deal, Indianapolis owner Jim Irsay called the Wentz acquisition “a mistake” in the first place and said the team must quickly move on without him.

In Wentz’s first public statements since, the quarterback said he was pleased with the Colts and indicated he wasn’t aware that someone important was not pleased with him.

“I’ve had great relationships with every single person in this building. Can’t say enough good things about the people over there. [The comments] kind of came out of left field, you know? Wentz said Wednesday on the Colin Cowherd Podcast. “He has the right to his own opinion and he has the right to do what he wants with his football team.”

What Irsay did with his football team was bring the once-promising Eagles prospect to Washington, swapping second-round picks and giving the Commanders a third-round player a year after the Colts gave up more for his services. Irsay’s crew sent the 2021 16th overall pick and a third-round pick for Wentz to the Eagles in hopes he could rediscover the form that made him a 2017 MVP nominee.

The now 29-year-old never reached that level, but he threw for 27 touchdowns and just seven interceptions and had the Colts in position to enter the postseason, needing just one win over the dreadful Jaguars in Week 18.

Instead, the Colts were crushed 26-11.

“No disrespect to Jacksonville but I mean they’re the worst team in the league,” Irsay told the Indy Star after trading Wentz. “You’re playing well and hard for the first quarter or so and they want to go to their dressing room and clean it up. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.

“You’re like, ‘My God, something’s wrong here.’ It needs to be corrected. I think that’s how we feel.”

The Colts moved on and traded for Matt Ryan as they seemed to feel like year two with Wentz couldn’t happen.

“I think the worst thing you can do is make a mistake and try to move on with it,” Irsay said. “For us, it was something we had to get away from as a franchise. It was very obvious.”

It was less obvious for Wentz, who is now on his third team in as many years.

“It is what it is. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I thought last year was a really fun year,” Wentz said. “I thought we did some incredible things, fell short in the end. Obviously I fought my way down the track there and the timing was bad but I wasn’t expecting that, I wasn’t expecting things to turn out the way they did and I thought things were going on a pretty good one there location.”