The Eagles' reward for tanking far outweighs the brief shame

Yes, Sunday night was unpleasant for viewers. But we're all going to forget that game in no time.

The Philadelphia Eagles pulled a (sort of) struggling Jalen Hurts for a confounded Nate Sudfeld, who looked as surprised as I was to see him in the game. Admittedly, coach Doug Pederson had said he was interested in seeing what Sufeld could do this week, and I missed the memo. Sudfeld looked like he missed the memo with misfires to receivers throughout the final quarter of Philly’s 20-14 loss to the Washington Football Team.

Pederson can say all he wants about how this was his best effort to win the football game. It wasn’t. He was trying to lose — or at the very least, not really trying to win. Even NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth — acknowledging that he had to be careful about what he said for fear of losing his job — openly ripped into the Eagles for their disregard for the spirit of competition.

The stakes for the Eagles? They moved from ninth- to sixth-overall in the 2021 NFL Draft.

The stakes for Washington? It clinched a playoff spot over the New York Giants (who were in disbelief on Twitter).

Thing is, America’s temper runs hot (at least on social media) but the nation’s attention span is short. So maybe the Eagles endured public humiliation on Sunday Night Football and maybe Pederson endured a brutally awkward press conference. But Philly is through it. The season is over — for them. In all likelihood, the season will be over for the Football Team in no time, too. And no one will talk about — or care about — this stupid season finale.

Instead, the Eagles will be left alone to enjoy the fact that they moved up from No. 9 to No. 6 — a move which is worth about 300 points in draft value (when adding up the points for the move over their six picks in seven rounds). That kind of point value is worth a late second-round pick. For what it’s worth, that type of draft value might also be what they need to trade Carson Wentz (and his cumbersome contract) to another team. Wentz and his contract are so bad that the Eagles may have to bundle him with a pick to get him off the team.

If that’s what Philly choses to do, it will have conjured that draft value out of thin air on Sunday night. And even if the Eagles decide to keep Wentz, they have moved up the board to a spot where they could get one of the best prospects in the draft, not necessarily excluding — *covers mouth to stifle a gasp* — a quarterback.