Former NFL general manager hammers Colts owner over Carson Wentz comments

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay had some harsh comments about former quarterback Carson Wentz this week. Wednesday, former NFL general manager Mike Tannenbaum blasted him on NFL Live for them.

Irsay called the Wentz move a “mistake,” and that quote generated plenty of traction on social media. Indianapolis traded for Wentz prior to last season, and subsequently traded him this offseason.

“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 Indianapolis Star’s Joel Erickson. “For us, it was something we had to move away from as a franchise. It was very obvious.”

Tannenbaum, who served as the New York Jets general manager from 2006-12, didn’t hold back with his response to Irsay.

“Completely unacceptable,” Tannenbaum said. “Completely unnecessary. When someone leaves your organization, you thank them. You thank them for their services and you move on. Behind closed doors, you have very difficult [conversations]. Head coach, GM, ownership. But once you make a decision, you walk out shoulder to shoulder, and when a player leaves, you just say thank you.

“And I’ll tell you what, the players in that locker room … are listening, and it is something that the players are going to notice and it’s something they’re going to say, ‘Well, wait a second, if they’re saying that about Carson Wentz, what are they saying about me?’ All it does is it eviscerates organizational morale and it’s something that anybody in a position of leadership, but especially ownership, should never say about a former player.”

More on Carson Wentz’s lone season with the Indianapolis Colts

The Colts traded Wentz to the Washington Commanders on March 9 after just one year with the team. They went 9-8 in 2021 and just missed the playoffs with Wentz under center. Indianapolis had a chance to lock up a playoff spot against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 18, but lost the game to miss out on the postseason.

Last year, the Colts traded a 2021 third-round pick and a conditional 2022 first-round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles to get Wentz. Just over a year later, they flipped him to Washington in exchange for a 2022 second-round pick, a 2022 third-round pick and a conditional 2023 third-round pick.

After trading Wentz, Indianapolis acquired Matt Ryan from the Atlanta Falcons to become its new QB1. The Colts only gave up a 2022 third-round pick and signed Ryan to a two-year contract extension.