Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Prescott vs. Wentz: By the Numbers
Last June 6, one shoe dropped when the Eagles signed quarterback Carson Wentz to a four-year contract extension worth $32 million a year.
Last week, the other shoe dropped when Dak Prescott announced that an offer the Cowboys made him in September for $33 million a year, to which Prescott was close to agreeing, is no longer good enough.
Is Prescott's change of heart justified?
The lifetime stats of Prescott and Wentz — four years, in both cases — scream a loud, most emphatic "yes."
Dak Prescott: 41-26 as a starter, 65.7% completions, 125 total TDs (23 rushing), 38 interceptions (one every 57.2 attempts), 7.62 yards per attempt, 11.60 yards per completion, 97.0 passer rating, 1,266 rushing yards, 9 fourth-quarter comebacks, 15 game-winning drives, 0 games missed due to injuries.
Carson Wentz: 32-25 as a starter, 63.7% completions, 100 total TDs (3 rushing), 35 interceptions (one every 58.8 attempts), 6.89 yards per attempt, 10.82 yards per completion, 92.5 passer rating, 770 rushing yards, 6 fourth-quarter comebacks, 8 game-winning drives, 13 games missed due to injuries (including five in the postseason).
If this was an election, Prescott would win in a landslide, and as such he deserves a lot more than a mere $1 million a year more than Wentz over four years (some wicked tongues might trot out the mixed martial arts cliche and say that Wentz has a "five-star work ethic" while Prescott is "athletic and explosive." But that is what such pundits have — wicked tongues). A ball park figure for Prescott is $36 million a year, coming off a season in which he finished second in the passing yards derby to Jameis Winston, who threw 30 interceptions to Prescott's 11.
Plus, since Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and his sidekick Howie Roseman throw nickels around like manhole covers, Wentz would have gotten a bigger deal if he played for virtually any other team, pushing the fair number for Prescott even higher.
And if the Cowboys let Prescott depart in free agency, they can either pursue the 42-year-old Tom Brady, who is coming off his least productive season in terms of yards per game in a decade, or take a chance on selecting a quarterback in a 2020 draft in which, as per the old Hertz commercial, there's LSU's Joe Burrow, and there's "not exactly."
The 44 days (this year) from the day after the Super Bowl (February 3) through the day before the start of free agency (March 17) are always full of rumors, many if not most of them spurious, and the re-signing of players by the same teams they were already playing for. But this "season" of the NFL year should not be despised, as it is a glass of the lemonade the owners chose to serve after Judge Doty stuck them with the lemon of free agency back in 1993.
So let the lemonade flow — even if this isn't the most appropriate time of year for it.