Anybody who didn’t see the Eagles’ Carson Wentz contract extension coming just hasn’t been paying attention

All those dire scenarios, down the drain, with the Thursday night announcement that the Eagles have reached agreement on a Carson Wentz contract extension, four years with $128 million of new money and about $107 million in guarantees, locking up the franchise quarterback through 2024.

First, there were people who thought the Eagles faced some sort of dire dilemma in deciding whether to invest long term in Nick Foles or Wentz, the quarterback Howie Roseman traded up twice in the first round of the 2016 draft to grab.

Roseman and owner Jeffrey Lurie let Foles go in free agency, to Jacksonville. They took no joy in saying goodbye to the only Eagles quarterback to win a Super Bowl. They did it, because it was the right thing for Foles, and because you can’t have a two-QB backfield, in the long run, and their quarterback, their team standard bearer was always going to be Wentz.

When the matter of a Wentz contract extension arose, there were people who saw reasons why one side or the other wouldn’t want to get this done right away. The Eagles had to be concerned that Wentz watched the playoffs the past two seasons from the sideline, following knee and back injuries. They would want to see him make it through the season healthy this year, and if he didn’t, well, the abyss would yawn, disaster would loom, bedlam would beckon.

When, at the NFL meetings in March, Roseman made it clear he was looking to do a Wentz deal ASAP, well, why would Wentz do that? He wasn’t going to become the league’s highest-paid QB, without proving he could be healthy. Wouldn’t it behoove him to play the season and deal from a position of strength?

Since the Eagles picked up Wentz’s fifth-year option back in April, they had him under contract through 2020 anyway, and then they’d be able to franchise-tag him twice, if needed, so what’s the rush?

The rush is, if you’ve been paying attention to this relationship, the Eagles have been all-in on Wentz since 2016, and everything he has done since arriving here then suggests his mind-set is the same. Getting this contract in the books clears a big potential distraction from Wentz’s plate, and it gives the Eagles cost certainty at the most important, most expensive position on the roster. They know now what they can afford to spend on, say, making Malcolm Jenkins happy.

Of course there is injury risk. But what exactly would the Eagles have gained by waiting a year? Were they going to ask the Jaguars to give Foles back, should Wentz not get through 2019? Were they going to blow up the team and trade for a pick high enough to get a top QB in 2020? There is no Plan B. There seldom is, with franchise quarterbacks. Either Wentz gets it done, or the Eagles sink back into that morass of teams that have this and have that but don’t really have the quarterback.

From Wentz’s perspective — what has he ever said that would lead you to believe that being the highest paid QB, or wringing the last possible dollar out of a deal, is anything he cares about?

The deal puts Wentz in the top tier, averaging $25.8 million per season including the final two years of his rookie contract, but it doesn’t put him at the top, and by the time he gets to the four-year extension, his $32 million a year average for those years ought to be well down the line for a top-notch veteran quarterback. The salary cap also rises each year. Could you see Wentz fielding questions about how his groundbreaking, unprecedented deal took so much cap room, the team couldn’t afford to pay other players what they’re worth? Unlikely.

We know $66 million is guaranteed at signing; we don’t know yet how the other $40-plus million of the guarantee is set up. There might be per-game incentives for being on the active list, or something. Whatever, the team is built around Wentz being good and being healthy.

“From the moment I got drafted here, I knew this place was special,” Wentz said in a video recorded by the Eagles celebrating the deal.

He said something similar last month, when asked during a news conference about progress toward a contract. There has never been any real doubt that this is where he wants to be, and that this is where he is wanted.

At the NFL meetings, Roseman was asked when he started planning for Wentz’s second contract.

“It definitely doesn’t start the day you draft him … maybe it should have,” Roseman said.

“I think that once you see the kind of impact that he had on the field, the kind of player he is, the work ethic that he has, you start planning out how you’re going to build a team around a highly paid player at that position. That’s something that we’ve been talking about really for the last two years.”

Speaking at that same gathering, Lurie didn’t leave much room for doubt about his intentions.

“When you draw it up, he’s exactly what you want,” Lurie said. “Highly competitive, Type-A personality. Demanding. Very smart. Obsessed with winning and winning big. Respected by everybody. Can’t draw it up much better."