Carson Wentz’s on pace numbers through the Eagles’ first 4 games are encouraging

Carson Wentz hasn’t posted the most eye-popping stat line through the first four games of the 2017 NFL season, but he’s hardly been a slouch. Here's what a projection of Wentz’s current stats look like projected through a 16 game season.

16 games

Wentz has played 20 out of 20 possible games in his career so far.

4,232 yards

Wentz threw for 3,782 yards as a rookie in 2016. He’s currently on pace to break a franchise record for passing yards. No Eagles quarterback has ever gone over 4,000. Donovan McNabb came the closest in 2008 when he had 3,916 yards.

24 passing touchdowns

Wentz threw 16 touchdowns in 2016 so this would be a nice little jump. The Eagles’ franchise record for passing touchdowns in a single season is 32 by Sonny Jurgensen in 1961. 24 touchdowns would rank tied with Randall Cunningham (1988) and Norm Van Brocklin (1960) for ninth most in a single season.

8 interceptions

Wentz had 14 interceptions in 2016 so cutting them down would be ideal. Both of the picks Wentz has thrown this season were tipped. In fairness, though, he’s also had some potential interceptions that have fallen to the ground. Let’s call it a wash.

For perspective here, McNabb had a 21-13 TD-INT ratio in the second year of his career. Wentz is on pace for 24-8. That’d be a nice season and very much a step in the right direction.

588 attempts

Wentz threw the second most pass attempts of any rookie quarterback EVER last season: 607. That was too much. The Eagles are always going to end up throwing the ball with Wentz around; that’s what they drafted him for. But the run game has been effective lately, which is nice because it takes some pressure off the second-year quarterback’s arm. It remains to be seen how that holds up.

356 completions

Wentz is on pace for the second most completions in single-season Eagles history. First overall is ... Wentz ... with 379 as a rookie.

7.2 yards per attempt

This figure is a significant increase from last year’s rate of 6.2. Wentz still needs to improve on his deep accuracy, but he’s still showing some improvement in this category. For reference, McNabb averaged 5.9 yards per attempt in his second season and 6.6 in his third. He didn’t reach over 6.5 until 2004, his sixth year in the league.

60.5 % percentage

Wentz completed 62.4% of his passes in 2016 so this figure is down. The trade-off, however, is that Wentz is gaining more yards per attempt on his throws. The Eagles were being a lot more conservative with Wentz as a rookie which helped inflate his completion percentage. For reference, McNabb didn’t reach above 60% until 2004.

80 rush attempts

It seemed like Wentz made a concerted effort to not run too much as a rookie. He only took off 46 times. Being more willing to run the ball was a point of emphasis by Eagles quarterback John DeFilippo this offseason. Wentz said that Flip has challenged him to pick up at least one first down with his legs per game. Wentz is more than capable of doing that so it’s a good thing for the quarterback to keep in mind.

388 rush yards

Wentz finished with only 150 rushing yards in 2016 so this would be a big jump.

0 rushing touchdowns

Wentz scored two rushing touchdowns as a rookie. I’d guess he’ll finish around that mark again this year.

16 fumbles

Wentz seems to have a number of “fumbles” where there’s a botched snap. It’s not always his fault, but there are some times where he needs to be more careful. For example, Wentz took his eyes off the ball on a shotgun snap in the Eagles-Chargers game. He quickly recovered it. I wouldn’t put too much into this high number because “fumble” is a loose definition in his case.

...

Add up Wentz's projected passing and running yards together and you get 4,620 yards of total offense. Pretty good! Or at least it’s pretty decent for being “not a top 20 quarterback.”

For real, though, Wentz’s early numbers are encouraging. They definitely show he’s making progress in his development. Beyond the numbers, it’s clear Wentz is doing a great job of being in command of the offense.

Wentz isn’t without his flaws; his accuracy must improve. But there’s plenty of reason to feel good about him as the Eagles’ franchise quarterback moving forward.