Fantasy Football: What We Learned From Week 3

Carson Wentz Looks Like the Truth

Los Angeles Rams fans are probably very mad right now. Their win yesterday probably cushions the blow temporarily, but as they look east toward Philadelphia, they're seeing the quarterback they could have had for the next decade-plus.

Carson Wentz was selected as the second-pick in the 2016 NFL draft, right behind Rams' weekly benchrider Jared Goff. Wentz looked to be on the same trajectory as Goff with the watch-and-learn-behind-a-veteran approach shortly before the season began.

But after a trade that dealt Sam Bradford to the Minnesota Vikings, the Philadelphia Eagles thrust their rookie signal-caller into the lion's den to learn on the job. And through three weeks, he's been superb.

Our signature in-house metric, Net Expected Points (NEP) helps tell the story even better. NEP provides additional context that traditional box score statistics can't by utilizing down-and-distance data to determine whether a player is positively -- or negatively -- contributing to their team's chances to score. You can learn more about NEP here in our glossary.

Through three weeks of action, Wentz is sporting a gaudy 0.33 Passing NEP per drop back. Only Andy Dalton and Carson Palmer finished last season with a higher level of efficiency. Moreover, there have only been 12 individual seasons since 2000 in which a quarterback reached 0.33 Passing NEP per drop back.

Wentz's 301-yard, 2-touchdown performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers was great. But if Dorial Green-Beckham hadn't dropped a beautiful long bomb when he hit the ground in the end zone, we'd be even more in awe at his numbers right now.

While we can certainly expect Wentz to cool off a bit in the coming weeks, he's definitely a good streaming option during weeks when he has a good matchup.

Maybe Rams fans can pick him up on their waiver wires and imagine what might have been.