Did Carson Wentz fire back at Jim Irsay with cryptic Instagram caption?

The Washington Commanders‘ trade for Carson Wentz has been ridiculed by every which direction.

Unfortunately, critics only considered the trade compensation and the fact the Commanders agreed to take on Wentz’s $28 million salary — even though he has no more guaranteed money after 2022 — in their analysis.

Wentz was simply the best Washington could do at the time. Jimmy Garoppolo is recovering from surgery on his throwing shoulder and the 49ers were reportedly demanding a king’s ransom for his services, and Wentz is more proven than any one of Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota and Mitchell Trubisky.

But whatever. The Commanders are used to being the brunt of jokes.

What we didn’t expect, though, was Colts owner Jim Irsay going absolutely scorched earth on Wentz during the Annual League Meeting.

If you missed what Irsay had to say, he essentially made Wentz out to be the scapegoat for Indianapolis’ last-season collapse. In doing so, he outed Wentz as a poor leader from some “veterans” in the Colts’ locker room and condemned the quarterback’s refusal to change his style of play.

Did Commanders QB Carson Wentz fire back at Colts owner Jim Irsay with his latest Instagram caption?

The most damning quote, though, came when Irsay transitioned to discussing Indy’s trade of Matt Ryan, which they undeniably lucked into after the Falcons made a surprise last-ditch attempt to lure Deshaun Watson to Atlanta.

“Extremely grateful to the football Gods, so to speak, where we were compared to where we are,” Irsay said of adding Ryan.

The other highlights? We’re glad you asked.

"You search for the right chemistry with any team. In football, it’s as important as any sport that there is. If that chemistry is off, if it isn’t there, it can be extremely detrimental and lower performance to a degree that is stunning and shocking.Your guy’s gotta pick you up and carry you through Jacksonville. He (Wentz) has to do it. Not an option. Has to. No excuses, no explanations."

Our fault, Irsay. We forgot football’s a team sport. The Colts owner couldn’t be bothered to eviscerate his team’s defense for giving up 26 points to a Jaguars offense that ranked dead-last in points scored per game in 2021. He couldn’t bothered to blast his D for allowing Trevor Lawrence to post the best passer rating and highest completion percentage of any game during his rookie season.

He couldn’t just take the high road, right?

Speaking of taking the high road, Wentz seemingly fired back at Irsay with his latest Instagram post. Pay close attention to the caption.

https://twitter.com/MikeGarafolo/status/1509567068064161808

If this was, in fact, an indirect shot at his former boss, it’s the ultimate drop mic moment. Rather than retaliate in the form of an insult-littered Instagram post or press conference, Wentz isn’t saying anything, (i.e. taking the high road).

Either Wentz is wiser than Irsay gives him credit for or Washington’s quarterback has a great PR team, because saying nothing and letting your play do the talking is exactly how you make Irsay look even more foolish than he already does.

Wentz will never admit to this caption being a dig at Irsay, but it’s impossible to read it and not connect the dots. Even if it wasn’t, we love that the former second overall pick is playing it off as if nothing happened.

That’s got to be eating at Irsay, because the extent to which he blasted Wentz’s ability as a quarterback made it seem personal; like he wanted Wentz to know the Colts’ colossal collapse was squarely on his shoulders.

That, or Irsay is too embarrassed to admit it was an organizational failure and wants the spotlight off of him, Chris Ballard and Frank Reich.

Whatever the case, it was a terrible look for the 62-year-old owner and Wentz’s inconspicuous reaction should see his popularity amongst skeptical Commanders fans grow tenfold.