It’s that time of year once again! Football Absurdity will bring you a breakdown of every notable fantasy football-relevant player throughout June, July, and August. We continue off with the quarterbacks. 2020 Carson Wentz had just about everything go wrong. So, with a change of scenery, can 2021 Carson Wentz put right that which once went wrong?
Carson Wentz ADP and AAV:
Average Draft Position: QB18, Pick 145
Average Auction Value: $1.1 (T-QB23)
Carson Wentz Statistics:
| Year | G | GS | Att | Comp | Comp% | Yds | TD | Int | Att/G | Comp/G | Yds/G | TD/G | INT/G |
| 2020 | 12 | 12 | 437 | 251 | 57.4% | 2620 | 16 | 15 | 36.4 | 20.9 | 218.3 | 1.3 | 1.3 |
| 2019 | 16 | 16 | 607 | 388 | 63.9% | 4039 | 27 | 7 | 37.9 | 24.3 | 252.4 | 1.7 | 0.4 |
| 2018 | 11 | 11 | 401 | 279 | 69.6% | 3074 | 21 | 7 | 36.5 | 25.4 | 279.5 | 1.9 | 0.6 |
| Year | 4 PPTD | 6 PPTD | 4 PPTD/G | 6 PPTD/G | Year | Rush | Ru Yds | Ru TD | YPC | Ru Att/G | Ru Yd/G | |
| 2020 | 198.4 | 230.4 | 16.5 | 19.20 | 2020 | 52 | 276 | 5 | 5.3 | 4.3 | 23.0 | |
| 2019 | 275.9 | 329.9 | 17.2 | 20.62 | 2019 | 62 | 243 | 1 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 15.2 | |
| 2018 | 192.7 | 234.7 | 17.5 | 21.34 | 2018 | 34 | 93 | 0 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 8.5 |
| Year | Air Yards | aDOT | aDOT+ | Y/A | TD% | INT% | Sacks | Yds/Sack |
| 2020 | 3804 | 8.70 | 0.97 | 6.00 | 3.7% | 3.4% | 50 | 6.52 |
| 2019 | 4917 | 8.10 | -0.08 | 6.65 | 4.4% | 1.2% | 37 | 6.22 |
| 2018 | 3128 | 7.80 | -0.38 | 7.67 | 5.2% | 1.7% | 31 | 6.52 |
aDOT+ is the quarterback’s average depth of target compared to the league average
2021 Carson Wentz Fantasy Football Overview:
Carson Wentz had the worst possible season last year, and his trade to the Indianapolis Colts should provide a fresh start. He started just 12 games and ended up benched 15 pass attempts into the 12th game. Wentz finished with 218 passing yards per game, 1.3 touchdowns, and 1.3 interceptions. He also managed to fumble the ball nearly a time per game. His only saving grace for fantasy football was that he scored five rushing touchdowns, and averaged 23 rushing yards per game. But, he was a total mess.
Not all of that is Carson Wentz’s fault. His offensive line was a complete nightmare, with over a dozen combinations starting over the course of the season. This year, that won’t be a problem. Pro Football Focus ranks the Colts’ offensive line as the #2 overall line, and even if that isn’t all wrapped up in pass blocking, you can see that he’ll have a better set of circumstances in 2021.
That having been said, I don’t know how bullish I am on Carson Wentz this season. After all, who is he passing to? Michael Pittman? Zach Pascal? T.Y. Hilton? Mo Alie-Cox? Nyheim Hines might legitimately be his most dangerous target in 2021. That doesn’t bode well for him. It’s likely that the Colts go to a ground-and-pound offense, limiting Wentz’s exposure to hits. That also means keeping him from scrambling, which will limit his fantasy football upside, as well. The Colts feel like a shoo-in for the division, but Wentz is a long shot for relevance in 1QB fantasy football leagues.
2021 Carson Wentz Fantasy Football Draft Strategy:
Carson Wentz Auction Value: $0
Draft Ranking: Want rankings tailored to your league settings in a Beersheet? (coming early July)
in 2QB leagues, and has a very strong chance to finish inside the top-20. The only problem is that top-20 doesn’t help in 1QB leagues. Because of that, I have very little interest in Wentz this season, and I see an extremely thin path to him mattering at all in 1QB leagues.
Best Case Scenario:
Michael Pittman breaks out and Carson Wentz runs a little bit; he ends the year as QB12.
Worst Case Scenario:
Nyheim Hines and Jonathan Taylor lead the way; Carson Wentz becomes a glorified Alex Smith on the Harbaugh 49ers-level player. He leads the league in handoffs.
Check out all our 2021 player profiles as we publish them, here.
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[Statistics are sourced from pro-football-reference.com, airyards.com, and ftnfantasy.com]
[Image Credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Carson_Wentz_passing_vs_Redskins_2017.jpg, edited under CC BY SA 2.0]
