Fantasy Football Today - 🚨 Carson Wentz to the Colts! Let's Discuss (02/18 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: February 18, 2021

The Colts have acquired Carson Wentz, now can they revive his career? Are we going to rank Wentz ahead of guys like Matt Ryan or Kirk Cousins? How about Baker Mayfield? We'll also discuss the impact on the Colts receivers and what this means for Jalen Hurts and the Eagles. And who will be the best QB in the AFC South in 2021?  Subscribe to the FFT in 5 podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, or wherever you listen to FFT. Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @CTowersCBS, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviK78rIWXhZdFzJ1Woi7Fg/videos Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Want winning picks each morning in under 10 minutes? Subscribe to 'The Early Edge: A Daily SportsLine Betting Podcast' on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Four years ago, Carson Wentz was a top three quarterback on a per-game basis. Since then, he has been 16th, 14th, and 24th in four-point-per-passing touchdown leagues, 15th, 11th, and 23rd in six-point-per-passing touchdown leagues. He is now a member of the Indianapolis Colts, traded for two picks. Adam Azer with Jamie Isenberg and Dave Richard. Just a quick announcement, programming announcement,

before I bring on the other two and then give you their opinion on this trade here. We just finished recording a year two running back assessment episode. It was a lot of fun, about 55 minutes long. We're going to push that until Friday, so we'll publish that on Friday. This will be your Thursday episode, so if you want to hear that running back preview, that's coming up on Friday. All right, Jamie, what do you think? The biggest impact here is to Jalen Hurts.

It has to be, right? But who's the second most impacted player, if there is one, by this trade? Not including the obvious answer of Carson Wentz. The Colts, obviously they have one guy that you're looking at right now because we don't know the status of T.Y. Hilton if he's going to return as a free agent. If their receiving core is Michael Pittman, Zach Paschal, and Paris Campbell,

Carson Wentz is not going to be a very good fantasy quarterback. He still has a chance to be good if they can hopefully upgrade that position. Also the tight ends as well, Moali Cox and Trey Burton are potential free agents. So we have to see what they do there. But the thing that's nice about Carson Wentz is he's being reunited with a coach who he knows and a guy who helped resurrect Phillip Rivers for what's that for what that's worth. If Rivers really needed resurrecting, but he did have a better season in 2020 than he did in 2019 when he switched teams. But the best thing for Carson Wentz is the offensive line in Indianapolis is great as we know. And the last time he was behind a good offensive line, he played pretty well with the Eagles. So, you know, getting protection is big for him, but I think you just look at right now, we got to see what

the Colts do at the, at the receiver spot. But I do think if you're just asking that question, Michael Pittman is a, is a winner with this trade because he gets a quarterback that has some semblance of knowing what he's doing. And hopefully Carson Wentz can get back to the level of what he was prior to 2020. He doesn't have to be an MVP guy like he was in 2017, but he just has to be better than he was last year. Right.

Obviously once his value goes up, he's not going to be a backup. He's going to be a starter, but yeah, we're talking about the other players involved in the deal. Dave, how about you? Is there one player that,

uh, whose value changes a lot, either knowing that Jalen hurts is going to be the starting quarterback in Philadelphia and Carson Wentz, the starting quarterback in Indianapolis? I think it's already been covered. I think the quarterbacks are the ones that move up the most. We'll see what Indianapolis does with their receiving core and with their tight end position. We know that part of the reason why Carson Wentz had success in the past

was because he had really good tight ends. I'm not ready to say that Indianapolis' tight end trio, the two that Jamie mentioned, plus Jack Doyle. Doyle also could be a cap casualty. Not ready to say that they're about to get a huge boost just because Carson Wentz is there. And I'm not sure they're going to even be the ones who would benefit from Carson Wentz being there. You know, Adam, we can still see, I know that there was the potential of Zachary's being thrown in the trade. He's most likely getting cut. He could go sign with the Colts.

You know what I mean? He still may end up there. And so, you know, that that's something that you could see, because again, he has a relationship with Frank Reich as well. He clearly has a relationship with Carson Wentz.

There's a need. So if they want to go that route and obviously their, their salary cap changes. And we know that the cap was beneficial. The NFL made it beneficial for the teams, you know, by increasing the floor. So teams are able to have a little bit more flexibility

with what they're going to do. They thought it was going to be a bad situation. It's not going to be as awful as it was. So the Colts taking on a lot of money, clearly, with this Wentz addition. But if Zach Gertz wants to be reunited with a coach and a quarterback that he knows, it does, as Dave said, make a lot of sense.

Yeah, and he is being reunited. So what's the deal? Can he be fixed? Can he still be a really good fantasy quarterback? He can. I mean, is he going to be a top 12 guy? I mean, that's the question. Is he going to be a guy you start on a weekly basis or is he going to be a guy that's used as a bi-week replacement or an injury replacement,

or just somebody that you're speculating on? I mean, I don't think anybody's drafting Carson Wentz to be a number one quarterback. I have him in one dynasty league with Matthew Stafford and Matt Ryan, and it's a two QB league, essentially super flex league. Um, you know, so I play, I play both those guys. Wentz will be the third guy for me going into the season. You know, will he be a guy that cracks the top two? Uh, we out. But this is better than the Bears, in my opinion, you know, just because of the coaching staff and the line and all those things. But they got to give him something else. They can't just leave it as it is and say, okay, we're going to go out and try and be this Tennessee Titans run power team and not have, you know, capable weapons in the passing

game. They got to bring somebody else in to help Carson Wentz. Because again, when we've seen him at his best, he's had receivers playing well. Alshon Jeffrey was a really good player for him. He may not have been a consistent fantasy producer, but he was a good player for him. Zach Ertz was a good player for him. These guys are a big reason why Carson Wentz was a good fantasy quarterback. He doesn't have those guys right now in Indianapolis. And we're asking a lot of Michael Pittman and Paris Campbell and Zach Paschal to be those guys.

But they've got to make him better first. And I think what we saw last year was a combination of his mechanics breaking down and really bad decision-making that did him in. And I beat up all the time though. I mean, that's a big part. That's absolutely part of it. And there's no question that he's upgrading in a major way there,

but here are my, here are my favorite sets that I found on once from last year on pro football focus. He was kept clean when he was kept clean in the pocket. He was 40th and adjusted completion rate at 73.8%. That was 40th best in the NFL. He had 10 interceptions versus three interceptions when he was kept clean in 2019.

So he's got to do a better job of just making accurate throws. It's as simple as that. And when he had under 2.5 seconds in the pocket, he completed almost 70% of his passes, six touchdowns, five interceptions. Okay, that's nothing horrible. You can fix that. When he had more than two and a half seconds in the pocket, he had a 49% completion rate, 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

49%. I mean, they did throw the ball. They did throw the ball. They ran the third most vertical routes in the NFL. I've mentioned that that that's a baffling stat. I don't know how you do that when you have, when you have the worst offensive line, arguably in the NFL. So the completion percentage is not going to be great with those routes. What I'm thinking is the Colts, how the Colts fix them, they're going to start by just having them get rid of the ball quickly and not necessarily have them target downfield a lot. That'll help the tight ends. It would

help a slot receiver like Paris Campbell. It'll help a perimeter receiver like Michael Pittman. And you think about how Travis Fulgham came on last year. Big physical outside type of receiver. Pittman can be that guy for Carson Wentz and the protection should be there. If his accuracy improves, he will at least be a serviceable bi-week quarterback, streaming quarterback, what have you. And you know what his potential is based on his previous seasons to

finish as maybe a top 12 quarterback. Yeah. He had been around there the last two seasons, but just not good enough. And one year, he threw the ball two seasons, but just not good enough. And one year, he threw the ball pretty well, but he stopped running. That was after the ACL. Since then, he's gotten back to being a decent rusher. It gives you something there. And also, you talk about his receivers,

and it's not great right now with what Indianapolis has, but I would say it wasn't really great in Philadelphia. You're talking about in his last four years, the Eagles have had one player with more than 846 yards. That was Zacherts. Yeah, but it's the group. Their tight end was their leading receiver basically every year. You've got, at least with Michael Pittman, you've got the opportunity to have a dynamic wide receiver.

Jeffrey was good. He was solid. But I don't think Carson Wentz benefited from great receivers around him. Do you? No. It wasn't what the Bucs just had or what the Chiefs had. It's not like that, but he had a good

group around him. It's not like they were terrible. It's better than what he's walking into right now. Yeah. We're going to need to see Pittman take a huge step, which would be nice uh as a software or add somebody else i mean you know there's there's potential you know we saw them last year they were aggressive on draft day by getting buckner and that made a huge difference for their defense um you know they they can go out and be aggressive in free agency they can go out and be aggressive

in the draft we've seen what rookie receivers can do uh including pitman when he had that little stretch of playing at a high level. You know, so wouldn't surprise me now if T.Y. Hilton comes back, maybe on a hometown discount, if he wants to stay in there, stay with the Colts and see if he can maybe get a ring. Because they are going to be a Super Bowl contender, as they showed last year. They were a good team. They just didn't get to that next level in the playoff. So there's a lot to like about the situation for Carson Wentz. But I think as we've sort of illustrated, he's got to play better than he did last year, whether it's a result of him mentally falling apart, physically falling apart,

or the things around him falling apart. It's not just the offensive line. I mean, the receiving core obviously was a disaster. No Jeffrey Rager not being the guy that they hoped and maybe can still get to. That's the next part of it, obviously, for Philadelphia. But Ertz missed time. Goddard missed time Sanders missed time I mean it was just everything around him was was a disaster you know and Deshaun Jackson missing time you know so uh and and that's basically two years of that you know the end of the 2019 season we know what they went through and and what he was able to do to get them to the playoffs that was on him he played

really well down the stretch in the 2019 season. So there's still something there for Carson Wentz. I don't think looking at this, he's done. He can never rebound. You have to see it, but there's still potential there for him to get to it. Okay. So Jared Goff or Carson Wentz?

Let me ask you that. Let me see with the quarterbacks you have ranked around Carson Wentz, or you will now that he's on the Colts. Jared Goff or Wentz Carson Wentz, or you will now that he's on the Colts, Jared golfer, once, once, when is it that that's that easy? I don't know what the list would have to be for golf to be ahead of Wentz. Like what's the topic of the list? Bad NFL quarterbacks,

quarterbacks. That'll be out of the league by 2023. Jared, he's that bad. I mean, guys with fewer consonants in their last name. I don't know. Like golf will be ahead of Wentz there too. I'm just saying, well, they have the same. No, Like, he's that bad? I mean... Guys with fewer consonants in their last name? I don't know.

Like, Goff will be ahead of Wentz there, too. I'm just saying. Well, they have the same. No, Goff is only three consonants, and Wentz is four consonants. Oh, I thought you meant the other way around. Sorry. Goff was better than Wentz last year.

I mean, Wentz was horrible. Yeah, I mean, Goff also, it's an incomplete, because we don't know what's going to happen with their receiving core. I mean, if he doesn't have Galladay and Marvin Jones't know what's going to happen with their receiving core. I mean, if he doesn't have Galladay and Marvin Jones and it's just TJ Hawkinson and DeAndre Swift, he's got to take Wentz. So how about Baker Mayfield or Carson Wentz? I'll take Mayfield

right now. I've got Wentz higher. Matt Ryan. Ryan. Cousins. Cousins. Okay. Jalen Hurts, let's go over to the Eagles. I'll take hurts over. Uh,

what did you say, Jamie? You got him eighth, uh, ninth. You know, he's, he's right after Russell Wilson for me.

Uh, you know, he's been that way since we did our rankings. Um, you know, so I, I didn't, I didn't move him at,

this was my expectation was he's going to be the starter. Now, clearly you have a, uh, a potential of the Eagles. If they want to take a quarterback at six, they can, uh, you know, depending on who's there, if they want to, you know, go a different route with the new head coach. But, you know, I, I think again, as we've sort of illustrated over the last couple of shows that we talked about, Dave wasn't a part

of the quarterback one with the sophomores, but, you know, his rushing ability is, is clearly evident and that sets him apart from, you know, the rushing ability is, is clearly, uh, evident and that sets him apart from, you know, the standstill guys in the pocket. Uh, he's going to, I hope improve as, as a passer. I hope instead of taking a quarterback at six, they have the opportunity to take one of those top three receivers, maybe one of the top two guys in, in chase or Smith. And if they do that, I think that makes him that much more attractive. So, uh, anytime you get a guy that has a chance to run for north of 500 yards,

which I think is going to be something that hurts does, if he stays healthy, I think will be close to a 3,500 yard passer. If not more, he could be a top five fantasy quarterback of those things work in his favor. So Dave's a little lower. He's got him 10th Heath,

by the way, has in his initial run of projections, Jalen hurts his QB seven, Carson Wentz as QB 21. I believe. Heath, by the way, has in his initial run of projections, Jalen Hurts is QB 7, Carson Wentz is QB 21, I believe. Yeah, QB 21. Which second-year wide receiver? Just to let you know, I posted a poll. I said I have Hurts ranked 9.

Too high, too low, just right. Too high is 60.8%, which I expected. Too low is 10.2%, and just right, 29%. The point of him, and I moved him up. So I didn't quite, I guess I wasn't believing that Wentz. I think we knew Wentz was going to be on the move.

Once his name started getting floated around so much in the rumor mill, but it's all about the upside. I'm not sure he's going to finish as a top 10 fantasy quarterback, but you're taking the chance on him starting in round eight, around nine, when the value of the draft pick isn't that high that he can turn out to be, you know, the breakout quarterback of 2021. It's simple. So who's got a better chance of being a year two breakout wide receiver? Jalen Rager, who played four games with Hurts starting, but in week 17, he left with a concussion, I believe, 28% of the snaps.

The other three games, he had 19 targets. So that's 101 per 16 games. Jalen Rager or Michael Pittman, who would you give a better chance? Who would you draft first? Pittman. I think it's going to be Pittman over Rager because Jamie talked about it.

If the Eagles go ahead and take a receiver in round one, which is what they should do unless they're absolutely in love with a quarterback that's there for them, that'll help Hurts. It'll hurt Rager. And Pittman probably won't have that type of receiver come in to take work away from him. Pittman's got a chance to be the number one receiver for Indianapolis.

And does this impact the running backs at all? I don't think so. I mean, we talked about Miles Sanders and what running quarterbacks have the opportunity to do. I think we're obviously split on Sanders, but again, my expectation was Hurts would be the starter, so Sanders is fine. Taylor, I think, again, is somebody was Hurts would be the starter. So, you know, Sanders is fine. Taylor, I think, again, is somebody you got to be excited about more so because of the offensive

line. I don't know if the quarterback change, whether it's an upgrade slightly or downgrade slightly from what Rivers was a year ago. You know, if that's the case, you know, I think Taylor still got the opportunity to be a top five running back going into the season. If Zach Ertz goes to the Colts, which tight end would you rank higher? Goddard or Ertz? Goddard.

That's an easy one for you? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, remember, there's still a lot of similarities here. Frank Sirianni's coming from the Colts, so it's going to be a very similar type of system that they're both going to play.

About Nick Sirianni. Nick Sirianni, excuse me. Frank, I combine them. Do you think Carson Wentz will do better than this? 4,169 yards, 24 touchdowns, 11 interceptions. That was Rivers last year. Yes, on the yards. Touchdowns, similar. Interceptions, more.

I was going to say no on the yards. Touchdowns, maybe he can get to like 26 touchdowns, but he got a whole run more, obviously. He got to figure at least 13 interceptions, almost one per game. Okay. Who is going to win the AFC South?

Not Houston. No? HQ, CBS Sports HQ posted a poll. Who's the best quarterback in the AFC next year? I think it was... In the AFC? AFC South. Oh, okay.

Oh, yeah. For Tannehill. I have to give it to Tannehill. Week one of the NFL season, who's the best QB in the AFC South? You got to show Tannehill that respect, right? Right. What if Watson's still there?

Oh, yeah. Oh, that's true. That's why you're asking the question now. All right. Well, that's it for our bonus podcast. And you got Trevor Lawrence. I mean, he's pretty good. Yeah.

How about that? It could be some really good quarterbacks there. Uh, so we've, we are done. And, uh, again,

a reminder, sophomore running backs tomorrow, Friday on fantasy football today, check out fantasy football today in five for a running back free agency preview. Thanks to Dave and Jamie for hopping on. Thanks to all of you for listening. I'm Adam. See ya.