Carson Wentz is a polarizing figure in the football world to say the least. Some fans and pundits hold him in high regard as one of the best in the business, while others will point out his injury history and some of his inconsistent play through the years.
I try to say level headed when it comes to Wentz. There’s no doubt he has room for improvement, his foot work and some of his decision making could certainly use some fine tuning. But, his football instincts and pure passing ability are second to none among other NFL quarterbacks.
When we look at some of the other quarterback around the NFC, Wentz is right up there with the best of them. There’s only three quarterbacks I would definitively take over Wentz from the NFC: Russell Wilson, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers. I would consider throwing Matt Ryan in there, but I like Wentz’s mobility and improvisation skills, so I’ll give him the slight nod.
Of course, there are fans out there who will say Dak Prescott is better than Wentz. If you quickly pull up both of their stats, then I can see why someone would come to that conclusion. But their stats are a lot closer than you may think. Since they both entered the league in 2016, they’ve both been to a Pro Bowl, they both have two division titles under their belts and they’re actually tied for eighth in NFL history for touchdown passes by a quarterback in his first four years.
If we look at the weapons both have had to work with, the fact that the stats are as close as they are is a detriment to Dak. He’s thrown to a future HOF tight end in Jason Witten, he’s had two All-Pro caliber receivers in Amari Cooper and Dez Bryant, two very productive slot guys in Cole Beasley and Randall Cobb, not to mention a 1,000 yards receiver in Michael Gallup.
While Wentz has also had the luxury of throwing to a future HOF tight end in Zach Ertz, hes worked with the likes of Nelson Agholor, Torrey Smith, Jordan Matthews and Dorial Green-Beckham for extended periods of time. Alshon Jeffery is a nice receiver when healthy, but I don’t think anyone would take him over Cooper, Bryant or even Gallup.
Then we have the other crop of NFC quarterbacks, Jimmy Garoppolo, Kirk Cousins, Jared Goff and Tom Brady. I still think Brady is the best of that bunch. A new set of weaponry and an innovative coach in Bruce Arians should lead to a very productive season for Brady.
As for the rest of them, they’ve all had their moments. But to say they’re better than Wentz is a bit of stretch. We can nitpick stats all we want, but we saw what Wentz was able to do down the stretch last season with a group of nobodies catching passes from him. Sure, he could’ve been more consistent throughout the year, but that shouldn’t take away from the development we saw out of him in 2019.
Cousins, Goff and Garoppolo all have supreme talent around them. They’re still good quarterbacks, but they’ve all struggled in crunch time on big stages throughout their careers.
So at the end of the day, Wentz is the fourth best quarterback in the NFC behind only Wilson, Rodgers and Brees. Once he shores up some of the smaller details in his game, there’s no doubt more mainstream pundits will share this same sentiment.