Colts Owner Jim Irsay Rips Carson Wentz for Loss to Jacksonville Jaguars: ‘They’re The Worst Team In The League!’

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Less than two weeks after the Colts traded for quarterback Matt Ryan, owner Jim Irsay publicly criticized their former signal-caller, Carson Wentz, who was traded to the Washington Commanders last month.

Speaking Tuesday from the NFL’s Annual League Meeting in Palm Beach, Florida, Irsay gave lengthy responses to why it was time to can the former No.2 overall pick in the 2016 NFL draft.

“I think the worst thing you can do is have a mistake and try to keep living with it going forward,” Irsay said, via the Indy Star. “It was very obvious.”

The longtime owner noted the season-finale loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, who won three games last season, was the final nail in the coffin for Wentz. The 26-11 embarrassment kept the Colts out of the playoffs and had Wentz one step out the door in Indy.

“No disrespect to Jacksonville, but I mean, they’re the worst team in the league,” Irsay said. “You play well and hard for the first quarter or so, and they’re looking to go to their locker room and clean it out. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. You say, ‘My God, there’s something wrong here.’ It needs to be corrected. I think that we feel like we did.”

Colts owner Jim Irsay calls Carson Wentz era a “mistake”: “For us, it was something we had to move away from as a franchise. It was very obvious.”https://t.co/MxX8JQorFP pic.twitter.com/ur00E7Ej24

— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) March 30, 2022

#Colts Jim Irsay on Carson Wentz being traded away 😳

“Having conversations with trusted veterans on the team, so to speak, when you speak to them in confidence, oftentimes they share really, what’s happening. What I found out was very concerning.” pic.twitter.com/IEKx7pjslF

— Locked On Colts Podcast (@LockedOnColts) March 29, 2022

Irsay’s negative view of Wentz not only stems from his suboptimal play down the stretch, in which the QB threw for under 230 yards in each of the final five games. Irsay also saw a lack of leadership from Wentz that led to him and general manager Chris Ballard pulling the plug.

“For us, the fit just wasn’t right. I don’t know why. A lot of times you don’t know why, but you know it isn’t, and it was important for us to move in a different direction,” Irsay explained.

The Colts did find a new home for their confidence-lacking QB as the Commanders traded a third-round pick and an extra conditional third-rounder for a player the Colts were likely to cut.

“I don’t lose the fact that it was a pretty big blessing from the football gods,” Irsay admitted. “Where we were and where we could be if things don’t materialize to that level. You end up cutting Carson, and we’d get nothing.”

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