Rookie Report Card: Carson Wentz and Jacoby Brissett
Each week throughout the season, I’ll cover at least two rookies in the Rookie Report Card and try to always include the biggest performers from that particular week. On top of reviewing my expectations for each player coming into the league and covering how he’s performed at the NFL level to this point, I’ll actually give him a grade in three categories. Those categories are performance to date, 2016 potential and long term upside.
The series continues with a look at a pair of quarterbacks, Carson Wentz and Jacoby Brissett.
Carson Wentz, QB PHI
Week Three Stats: 23 of 31, 301 passing yards, two touchdowns, one carry, 10 rushing yards
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I’ve been a fan of Carson Wentz since way before it was fashionable. Living in South Dakota, I had the opportunity to watch Wentz lead North Dakota State University to consecutive FCS Championships. I recall the first time I watched him with the Bison. They were in Brookings, South Dakota facing the Jackrabbits and Wentz threw an NFL caliber 15-yard out that took my breath away. A few months later, I drafted Wentz in the DLF Delayed Dynasty startup devy draft.
Why do I mention a throw from nearly two years ago and how that translated into me watching nearly every pass attempt Wentz made for the rest of his college career and becoming one of the first fantasy players to select Wentz?
Simple. To show I love Wentz and have since he was a junior in Fargo. So forgive me if this report card reads as if it was written by a huge Wentz fan. After all, it was.
Through the first two weeks of Wentz’ NFL career, he completed 60% of his passes, threw three touchdowns and committed no turnovers. He stood tall in the pocket, delivered accurate passes under pressure and showed great awareness to avoid the pass rush and buy time by scrambing. Many tipped their hats to the rookie signal caller but also made sure to point out that he’s faced two of the weakest defenses in the league, Cleveland and Chicago. Naysayers have also highlighted that he takes too many hits as a runner which puts him in danger of missing time due to injury.
Then week three happened.
Wentz’ sparkled against the Steelers’ formidable defense. He was poised, getting the ball out of his hands quickly. He even picked up a fumble on a bad snap while in the shotgun before delivering a strike to Darren Sproles, turning what could have been a very negative play into a positive one.
The most impressive play of Wentz’ game on Sunday came with 13:09 left in the third quarter on third-and-eight. Out of the shotgun, he took the snap and had Steelers’ defensive end Stephon Tuitt coming right up the middle as a free rusher. Wentz duped Tuitt with a beautiful jump step to the right, then flushed to the right. Instead of tucking the ball and running for the first down like he may have done a week ago, he flattened down the line of scrimmage, buying time for Sproles to break free. Wentz then delivered a perfect throw to the scat back, leading him perfectly and giving him a running start to a 73-yard score.
Although Wentz has been brilliant through three games, completing 65% of his passes for 769 yards and five touchdowns while not turning the ball over, it should be mentioned that the Eagles’ coaching staff has been masterful – keeping the rookie quarterback in situations he can strive in. For example, Wentz threw almost exclusively from the shotgun (84% of the time) on Sunday and was only asked to throw more than eight-yards downfield eight times. He completed four of those passes. Additionally, 12 of Wentz’ 31 passes were actually intended for a receiver behind the line of scrimmage.
Although Wentz won’t always have the luxury of playing with a lead and will be forced to push the ball down the field, he has shown excellent composure in the pocket, dazzling footwork and impressive accuracy. There will no doubt there will be bumps along the way, but with his quick release and Doug Pederson’s knack for putting him in a position to be successful, he’s now solidly in the QB2 conversation and should be seen as a potentially elite fantasy quarterback for years to come.
Wentz is a franchise quarterback for the Eagles as well as one dynasty franchise in your league. Unfortunately, if you don’t already own Wentz, it’s likely going to cost you too much to get him – particularly in 2QB and super-flex leagues.
Jacoby Brissett, QB NE
Week Three Stats: 11 of 19, 103 passing yards, eight carries, 48 rushing yards, one rushing touchdown
Okay, Brissett wasn’t one of the top rookie performers of week three. The fact that he played well enough to lead the Patriots to a blowout win against Houston’s defense is noteworthy however, so he’s certainly worth taking a look at.
Coming out of North Carolina State, Brissett was an intriguing quarterback prospect due to his ideal size (6’-5”, 231 pounds) and big arm. Strong in the pocket, he displays shades of Ben Roethlisberger by bouncing off pass rushers while looking downfield and delivering the ball to the open receiver. Although he regularly showed a rifle for an arm while with the Wolfpack, he also proved that he could take something off his throws when necessary.
Brissett is also a very accurate passer – particularly on short to intermediate timing throws and when on the run. While at NC State, he showed good leadership skills and great decision making, throwing just 11 interceptions in his final 26 college starts. Incredibly competitive, he was demonstrative on the field while leading his team and showed a flair for handling big moments by playing especially well against elite talent.
Although he’s considered an accurate thrower, the most glaring weakness in Brissett’s game comes when he’s throwing downfield. Very scattershot when targeting receivers 20-yards or more downfield, he tend to lead pass catchers too much. It’s also questionable if he’ll be able to recognize coverages and make changes at the line of scrimmage at the next level as he tended to struggle coming off his first read from time to time while in college.
Unfortunately, with the Patriots dominating the Texans the way they did on Thursday night, we didn’t get to see all of Brissett’s strengths or weaknesses but we did see enough to make a few notes about how he has progressed since getting to New England.
The run Brissett had early in the game where he faked the pitch on the option and cut up field for 13-yards was eyebrow raising but it was his 27-yard run for a score that caught everybody’s attention. On the run, he ran free down the right sideline after a simple play action fake before making safety Andre Hal look silly on a cutback and diving into the end zone for the score.
As a passer, Brissett showed his impressive arm strength with a perfectly thrown slant to Malcolm Mitchell early in the game that resulted in a big play on third down. He also hit Julian Edelman on a deep out where he once again showed off his cannon and accuracy and nearly threw a seven-yard touchdown to Edelman in the back of the end zone when he was flushed from the pocket and threw a bullet on the run that went off the receiver’s hands. Unfortunately, Brissett also badly overthrew Edelman and Chris Hogan on a couple of deep passes and made a pair of poor throws on fades in the end zone to Rob Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett.
Overall, Brissett had a solid night but is still incredibly raw. He showed good decision making, tucking the ball and running when he couldn’t find an open receiver, and displayed the great arm strength and outside of a handful of throws, showed the solid short to intermediate accuracy that he displayed while at NC State.
Going forward, its unlikely Brissett will have much fantasy value in the short term. Jimmy Garoppolo may be back in week four and Tom Brady is scheduled to return from his suspension after that. Beyond the next couple weeks, it also appears that Garoppolo, who is signed through next year, is the preferred heir apparent to Brady. All that makes Brissett most likely inactive for at least the next two years.
With that all said, it’s obvious that the quarterback that starts for Bill Belichick has the potential to have, at the very least, QB2 fantasy value (see Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett and Garoppolo while they were in New England) and we’ve seen with so many young quarterbacks with the ability to run, that their legs can vault them into fantasy relevance so Brissett is worth keeping on your radar as a dynasty owner.
There’s not a clear path to playing time in New England so rostering Brissett for the short term seems like an investment that will never pay dividends. But in a 2QB or super-flex league with big rosters and deep benches, there’s the potential for Brissett to have fantasy value again one day – although it may be tied to him outlasting Garoppolo in New England and continuing to be tethered to Belichick.
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