Colts Inquired About Raiders QB Derek Carr Before Settling On A Deal For Carson Wentz

Thursday, the Indianapolis Colts pulled off the second big trade of the offseason regarding the game's most important position - the quarterback spot.

Indianapolis dealt a 2021 third-round pick and a conditional second-round choice in 2022 to the Philadelphia Eagles for backup QB Carson Wentz, who is going to be penciled in as the team's starter right away.

Wentz was the starter for the Eagles for 12 games in 2020, going 3-8-1 before former coach Doug Pederson gave rookie Jalen Hurts the chance to be the starter for the final few games of the season.

Wentz, a former first-round pick, ended 2020 throwing for 2620 yards with 16 touchdowns and 15 picks. Not exactly numbers that are attached to many Super Bowl winning QBs.

Though Wentz will get the first crack at the Colts' starting quarterback spot, it appears that he wasn't the first choice for the Colts.

Jim Ayello of The Indianapolis Star states that the Colts first made a call to Las Vegas to chat with the Raiders about the availability of veteran quarterback Derek Carr, who just wrapped up his 7th season as the Raiders' starter.

According to Ayello, the Colts were told that Carr was “not available” in any sort of trade.

A few weeks back, rumors were popping up that that Vegas might be willing to listen to a deal for Carr if multiple first-round picks were involved.

If the Colts were willing to pry Carr away from the Raiders, it would have eaten up a lot of their cap space, as the 29-year-old is in the midst of a five-year deal worth $125 million.

This season, Carr will earn a base salary of $19.5 million, with a workout bonus of $100,000, while carrying a cap hit of $22.1 million.

This past season, Carr played well, going 8-8 as a starter and throwing for 4,103 yards with 27 touchdowns, completing over 67 percent of his passes and posting a career-high 71.0 total QBR.