Philadelphia Eagles third-year quarterback Carson Wentz had an MVP-caliber season in 2017. The former second overall pick completed 60.2 percent of his passes for 3,296 yards, 33 touchdowns, and seven interceptions in 13 games.
If he does not suffer a season-ending knee injury in Week 14 against the Los Angeles Rams, Wentz probably would have won MVP for his efforts on the field.
With all that being known, it is kind of shocking to see where Pro Football Focus has Wentz ranked at heading into the 2018 season. PFF released their annual NFL quarterbacks rankings and slotted Wentz at No. 9.
It is not a bad spot for the third-year quarterback, but when you see San Diego Chargers signal-caller Philip Rivers and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck ranked higher than him. It does raise some eyebrows.
Here is what PFF had to say about Wentz being the ninth-best quarterback based on their metrics.
“Wentz had a breakout 2017 season, grading at 84.9 overall, good for sixth in the league before going down to a knee injury. He had the second-highest percentage of big-time throws and also ranked second in accuracy percentage on tight-window throws.”
As they mentioned, Wentz finished last season ranked sixth in the NFL. But to have Rivers and Luck in front of him, just doesn’t make sense.
How does Carson Wentz compare to Philip Rivers?
PFF said that Rivers was one of the NFL’s best accurate passers in short yards (0-9) and still is a solid intermediate passer.
Last season, Rivers completed 59.9 percent of his passes between that range, while Wentz completed 58.3 percent. It’s a slight edge that goes to Rivers, but overall you can argue that Wentz is better than him.
How about Luck, who missed all of last season with a shoulder injury? PFF said that Luck makes the special throws and ranks among the league-best quarterbacks when it comes to big-time throw percentage.
Even if that is true based on their metrics, Luck didn’t play a snap of football since 2016. There is no way he should be in the top-10 of this list.
For starters, he has to show that he can stay healthy and secondly, cut down on the turnovers.
Nevertheless, these are just rankings and they will certainly change over the course of the regular season.
If Carson Wentz can play at the level he was at last season, then he will vault himself into the top-5 quarterback discussion.
