Carson Wentz is on pace for a very good season

Carson Wentz is off to an encouraging start in 2019. The fourth-year quarterback is actually the highest graded player at his position by Pro Football Focus through four weeks.

Of course, there’s a lot of subjectivity involved with PFF’s grading. So, let’s take a look at Wentz’s more traditional stats and how they project over the rest of the season at his current pace. This obviously isn’t a perfect predictive activity but it helps to put his performance thus far into context.

16 games

Wentz has played in 44 out of 57 possible games in his career so far. That’s 77.9%. If he finishes out the 2019 regular season, he’ll be at 81.2%. The Eagles will be knocking on wood to make sure he stays healthy.

3,852 passing yards

Wentz’s highest passing yardage total in a single season was when he threw for 3,782 as a rookie in 2016. Wentz is currently on pace to finish with the third most single-season passing yards in Eagles franchise history. It’s not out of the question that he could beat out Donovan McNabb’s 3,916 mark that was set in 2008. Especially when one considers Wentz has played without his top two wide receivers — DeSean Jackson and Alshon Jeffery — for a good chunk of the first four games.

36 passing touchdowns

Wentz broke the Eagles’ record for single-season passing touchdown despite only playing 13 games in 2017. Wentz could be able to edge out his own 33 touchdown mark at his current pace.

8 interceptions

Wentz threw seven interceptions in 13 games back in 2017. Finishing with only eight in 16 games this season would be very impressive. It’s worth noting that Wentz’s two picks so far came in an anomaly of Week 2 game where the offense was thrown into disarray due to fluky injuries suffered by Jeffery, Jackson, and Dallas Goedert.

580 passing attempts

Wentz averaged 38 pass attempts per game in 2016, 34 in 2017, and 36.5 in 2018. Wentz is currently averaging 36.3 in 2019. The Eagles could ideally drop that figure a little by getting out to leads and being able to run the ball more instead of having to pass so much while playing from behind.

352 completions

Wentz set an Eagles franchise record for completions in 2016 with 379. He’s currently on pace to surpass Sam Bradford — who has 346 — for second place.

6.6 yards per attempt

Wentz’s yards per attempt finishes: 6.2 (2016), 7.5 (2017), and 7.7 (2018). Wentz’s figure is currently low in part due to injuries and game plan. Against the Packers, for example, the Eagles wanted to get the ball out of Wentz’s hands quickly so Green Bay’s pass rush didn’t have an opportunity to get to him. Getting Jackson back healthy will definitely boost Wentz’s yards per attempt. Wentz was at 8.0 when he had Jackson in Week 1.

60.7% completion

This figure currently ranks 30th out of 35 quarterbacks. Not ideal. It’s not all Wentz’s fault, however, since he’s had to deal with the most drops (12) in the NFL, per Pro Football Focus. Wentz likely won’t be so unlucky through the rest of the season. This number will improve.

95.3 passer rating

Wentz currently ranks 19th out of 35 quarterbacks in passer rating. Once again, getting Jackson and Jeffery back healthy will help this figure improve.

68 rush attempts

Wentz’s rushing attempts by season: 46 (2016), 64 (2017), and 34 (2018). His 4.3 rush attempts per game this year is up from last year’s mark of 3.1. Wentz’s mobility was limited by his ACL recovery and his back injury last season. His legs are a bigger asset to him now that he’s healthy.

216 rush yards

Wentz finished with 299 rushing yards in just 13 games from 2017. He’s not on pace to break that mark but he should clear his second highest season in rushing yards when he had 150 as a rookie.

4 rushing touchdowns

Wentz’s rushing touchdown against the Falcons in Week 2 was his first rushing score since December 18, 2016. Wentz almost had another rushing touchdown in Week 3 but his outstretched arm came up just short. I don’t know that he’ll get to four rushing touchdowns this season but maybe he could get one or two more.

0 fumbles

Prior to this season, Wentz had 32 fumbles in 40 games played. Not great! So far, though, he’s done a really good job of protecting the ball. Is that just luck or has he gotten better with ball security? Whatever the case, the Eagles will take it.

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Again, it’s difficult not to be encouraged with how Wentz has played so far. Does he have room for improvement? Of course. But at the very least he’s shown enough to inspire confidence as a starting quarterback for a contending team.