Ron Rivera doesn’t regret Commanders’ Carson Wentz trade

The Carson Wentz–Washington Commanders marriage has left much to be desired in the win column, but coach Ron Rivera said he still believes in his new quarterback.

Five weeks into the 2022 NFL season, Washington is 1-4, last in the NFC East. They most recently lost at home to the Tennessee Titans, 21-17. The Commanders are four games behind the first-place and undefeated Philadelphia Eagles (5-0) and three games behind the Dallas Cowboys (4-1) and New York Giants (4-1) in the division. Washington is also 0-2 in divisional play with losses to the Cowboys and Eagles.

Washington went 7-10 in 2021 with Taylor Heinicke as the team’s primary quarterback. The Commanders acquired Wentz, who cost them two third-round draft picks and a swap of 2022 second-rounders with the Indianapolis Colts via trade, to get back to the playoffs, where they last were after winning the NFC East at 7-9 in 2020.

With that in mind, do the Commanders have buyer’s remorse with Wentz?

At least Rivera doesn’t regret the trade. After explaining how quarterback play is the reason why their divisional rivals are off to hot starts, Rivera expressed confidence in Wentz, ESPN reported.

“I’ve got no regrets about our quarterback,” Rivera said. “I think our quarterback has done some good things. There’s been a couple games that he’s struggled, but the way he performed [Sunday] it just shows you what he’s capable of. We chose him because we believe in him. We chose him because we looked at what we felt were things that pointed toward him.”

Rivera added that Wentz is a player for the Commanders to “build around.”

“We’ve got a guy that we think we have a chance to build around,” Rivera said. “We have a guy that is really growing in what we’re doing. I thought yesterday was a good indicator of his potential for us in this, and we’ll continue to work with it.”

Wentz has 1,390 passing yards, 10 passing touchdowns, six interceptions and an 86.0 quarterback rating, completing 62.9% of his passes this season. The quarterback helped lead Washington to the two-yard line on their last possession against the Titans on Sunday, but Wentz was intercepted at the goal line with 0:09 remaining in the game, sealing the Tennessee victory.

The Commanders’ offense entered Monday averaging 252.6 passing yards (10th in NFL), 341.6 total yards (19th) and 18.0 points (26th) per game.

Rivera is in his third season as Washington’s head coach; they’re 15-23 since he took over in 2020.