The 2016 quarterback class has taken a complete 180
The 2016 quarterback class has been one of the most talked about group of players since this group came into the league.
The Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles traded up to draft Jared Goff and Carson Wentz first and second overall in the 2016 draft. Two days later, in the fourth round, the Dallas Cowboys selected Dak Prescott, a quarterback thought of as a backup or third stringer at the time.
All three of these quarterbacks saw major playing time in their rookie seasons in 2016. Jared Goff started the last seven games and went 0-7 with the Rams. Carson Wentz starts all 16 games and goes 7-9 with the Eagles. Dak Prescott replaces an injured Tony Romo, goes 13-3 and wins Offensive Rookie of the Year with the Dallas Cowboys. Clearly, these were first year results that nobody saw coming, and it looked like Prescott had the brightest future.
In 2017, everything started to change. Prescott fell off a little bit and struggled, but the Cowboys had a 9-7 record. Goff took a leap in play and led the Rams to 11-4 and a home playoff game. Wentz took the biggest leap of the three, with an 11-2 record, 33/7 TD:INT ratio, and was on his way to an MVP before tearing his ACL. The Eagles eventually won the Super Bowl with Nick Foles, but they don’t get there without Wentz, and he looked like the runaway best quarterback for the future.
In 2018, the debate started again, as Prescott struggled the first half of the season but took off after the addition of Amari Cooper, leading the Cowboys to a 10-6 record and playoff win against the Seahawks. Goff took another leap and had the Rams at 13-3 and a Super Bowl appearance. Wentz was statistically better on a per game basis in 2018, but only played 11 games and missed another playoff run, with Foles winning a playoff game in Chicago. The debate was still growing, as Goff made the case as the best of the three.
After the 2018 season, Goff and Wentz both received massive extensions from their teams that would lock them up long-term. Meanwhile, Prescott would hold off on an extension and play out the 2019 season, looking for a bigger pay day.
In 2019, all three quarterbacks faced major adversity. Prescott started hot at 3-0, but ended 8-8 and no playoff trip. Goff went 9-7 but struggled throughout the year and missed the playoffs as well, which in part felt like a Super Bowl hangover. Wentz went 9-7 in 2020 with injuries to all of his starting wide receivers and led the Eagles to an NFC East title, only for him to get cheap shotted out of the game in the first quarter.
The 2020 offseason continued to show controversy, as Prescott was franchise tagged, Goff needed to be rebuilt, and Wentz had his eventual replacement drafted in the second round.
The 2020 season felt like the eventual downfall for this quarterback class. The Rams made the playoffs but Goff struggled again, Prescott sustained a season-ending injury in Week 5 and didn’t have long-term stability, and Wentz regressed to one of the worst quarterbacks in football and was eventually benched in favor of rookie Jalen Hurts.
With the 2021 offseason around the corner, Goff’s future has already changed, as he’s been traded to the Detroit Lions in exchange for Matthew Stafford. Wentz is most likely to be traded before the new league year begins and the Eagles will take an historical cap hit for trading him. And Prescott’s future is still up in the air, as it is unclear if he will be signed long-term or franchised tagged by the Cowboys, or if they will let him go.
Nobody could have seen this coming from the big three quarterbacks from the 2016 draft. If you watched their first couple seasons in the NFL, you would think they would be playing at a high level for a long time. Instead, their futures are all up in the air after their first five season. They aren’t lying when they say the NFL stands for “Not For Long.”
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Categorized:Eagles