Pro Football Focus Low on Carson Wentz's Fantasy Impact
When it comes to quarterbacks in fantasy football, guys like Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, and Russell Wilson are the QBs many seem to invest in early in fantasy drafts.
Should you miss out on those QBs though, Pro Football Focus' Ian Hartitz ranked many of the league's 32 starting QBs in tiers from a fantasy football perspective.
"The general scoring I had in mind was half-point PPR in typical one-QB, non-TE premium formats," Hartitz wrote. "Players in the tiers are listed in order of who I would prefer first; just realize their standing in the same group reflects the reality that I’m not overly confident in picking one over the other."
In his QB tier, Hartitz was rather low on Indianapolis Colts' new starting QB Carson Wentz, placing him in the final tier, Tier 5, with QBs like New Orleans' Jameis Winston, Minnesota's Kirk Cousins, Miami's Tua Tagovailoa, New York Jets' Zach Wilson, New York Giants' Daniel Jones, and Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger.
While Wentz is coming off of a poor 2020 season that saw him benched late in the season and ultimately traded to Indianapolis, he's coming into a system he's familiar with under head coach Frank Reich, and has more weapons at his disposal and a better offensive line in Indianapolis than he ever had in Philadelphia.
Wentz finds himself back with Frank Reich on a great overall Colts roster, although the lack of proven options at WR and TE are concerning. There’s a scenario where Parris Campbell stays healthy, Michael Pittman takes a Year 2 leap and T.Y. Hilton proves to not be washed; even then we’d need to see Wentz not function as one of the league’s bottom-five QBs like he did in 2020.
Considering where Wentz is in this tier from Hartitz, I feel he's a bit too low on Wentz and placing such an emphasis on a poor 2020 season that saw Wentz struggle behind a pourous offensive line, no run game to count on, and inconsistent playmakers to catch the football.
Should Wentz take the leap back towards his 2017 production, I think it's safe to say he could find himself in Hartitz's Tier 3, which consists of Tampa Bay's Tom Brady, Los Angeles Rams' Matthew Stafford, Cincinnati's Joe Burrow, and Tennessee's Ryan Tannehill.
At worst, Wentz should be in Hartitz's Tier 4 ahead of the 2020 season, which consists of Washington's Ryan Fitzpatrick, Chicago rookie Justin Fields, Jacksonville rookie Trevor Lawrence, and San Francisco rookie Trey Lance.
Have thoughts on Carson Wentz's fantasy football tier ranking from Pro Football Focus? Drop a line in the comment section below!
Follow Josh on Twitter @ByJoshCarney.
