In June 2019, the Philadelphia Eagles signed quarterback Carson Wentz to a four-year, $128 million contract that set a record for the most guaranteed money in NFL history — $107 million. The Eagles signed Wentz even though he had a season left on his contract and the team held an option for another season after that.

With four games to play in the 2020 season, Wentz lost his job to second-round rookie Jalen Hurts, and he was traded to the Indianapolis Colts for a third-round pick in the 2021 draft and a first-round pick in the 2022 draft.

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Now Philadelphia has reached the same stage of Hurts’ career. After three NFL seasons, Hurts is eligible for a contract extension, even though the former Alabama standout has a season left on his four-year rookie deal. The Eagles don’t have a fifth-year option on that contract as they did with Wentz, but Philadelphia has an equivalent with the franchise tag.

Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said he would not treat what happened with Wentz as a cautionary tale as he approached an extension for Hurts.

“I think each example is on it’s on,” Roseman said at a season-ending press conference on Thursday, “and you got to look at the individual player – and that’s not to be critical of anyone we’ve given a contract to that hasn’t worked out. I think again when we talk about Jalen, we’re talking about a guy we have tremendous confidence in, a guy we want him to be here for a long time, and so it’ll be something that will be a priority for us.”

The careers of Wentz and Hurts have similarities through three seasons.

When Wentz signed his contract extension, he had started 40 games for Philadelphia, with the Eagles winning 23. He had completed 923-of-1,448 passes for 10,152 passing yards with 70 touchdowns and 28 interceptions for a 92.5 passing-efficiency rating and run for 542 yards and two touchdowns on 144 carries.

Wentz finished third in the voting for The Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player Award, made All-Pro second team and was picked for the Pro Bowl for the 2017 season as Philadelphia went to the Super Bowl. Wentz got hurt in the 13th game of the season, and Nick Foles finished the drive to the NFL championship at quarterback as the Eagles defeated the New England Patriots 41-33 in Super Bowl LII.

Hurts has started 38 games (including four in the postseason) for Philadelphia, with the Eagles winning 25. In those starts, Hurts has completed 721-of-1,155 passes for 8,601 yards with 47 touchdowns and 20 interceptions for a passing-efficiency rating of 91.3 and run for 1,998 yards and 31 touchdowns on 393 carries.

Hurts finished second in the voting for The Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player Award, made second-team All-Pro and was chosen for the Pro Bowl for the 2022 season as he helped Philadelphia set a team record for victories and win the NFC championship before the Eagles fell to the Kansas City Chiefs 38-35 in Super Bowl LVII on Sunday.

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Even in defeat, Hurts had a rare performance with 304 passing yards and a touchdown pass and 70 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. No other player in NFL history has reached those four stats in a single game, let alone the Super Bowl.

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“I think, obviously, we want to keep our best players here for the long term,” Roseman said, “and he’s certainly one of our best players. We’ll keep all the contract talks internal, but we definitely would like to keep Jalen Hurts here long-term. …

“We have a good sense of what we need to do here. We have a little bit of time here, too, to kind of figure it out and get away and discuss that. But at the end of the day, the most important thing is keeping our best players here.”

The sports-financial website spotrac.com estimates Hurts’ value on an open market would be a six-year, $265.373 million contract. Hurts’ rookie contract called for $6.025 million across four seasons.

The Eagles have 20 players headed into free agency on March 15 if Philadelphia doesn’t re-sign them by then. Roseman was asked how paying Hurts at the level of a top-of-the-line NFL quarterback would affect the Eagles’ ability to keep veteran players from departing in free agency.

Roseman responded by talking about the importance of the draft.

“We have, obviously, a large number of free agents that we knew going in,” Roseman said. “I think when we looked at this team — and we always looked at this team over not just this year, but over a period of time — we knew we needed to get additional (draft) picks. It’s one of the reasons we made the trade last year was to make sure we had picks going forward. Even though we maybe don’t have the amount of picks this year, we have a bunch of high picks. And then next year, we’re going to have a tremendous amount of picks. We already had two additional picks from two trades that we made, and just by the sheer number of the free agents, we’re going to have comp picks next year. Even if we sign a bunch of our guys, we are going to have comp picks next year.

“I think we go into it with that, understanding that it’s going to be impossible to keep every single person on this team. But we’re here to compete. I think a lot of times I’ve heard this week, ‘We’ll be back.’ Just because we say it doesn’t mean it. We got to make that happen. …

“We got a scar on us. It’s going to heal over time, and we’re going to do everything we can, everything in our power to make sure that we bring the city, our players, our staff what they deserve.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.