NFL draft profile: North Dakota State QB Carson Wentz

Shutdown Corner is counting down the top 50 prospects in the 2016 NFL draft with a scouting report, quotes from NFL evaluators and a projection where they might be drafted.

10. North Dakota State QB Carson Wentz
6-foot-5, 237 pounds

Key stat: In 42 games (23 starts, including seven in 2015), Wentz completed 376 of 583 passes (64.5 percent) for 4,893 yards with 44 TD passes and 12 interceptions. He also rushed 202 times for 949 yards (4.6-yard average) with 11 TDs.

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The skinny: Three-sport prep star — baseball, basketball and football — who received no FBS offers (Central Michigan showed interest) when he chose to be a preferred walk-on at NDSU. After redshirting in 2011 and backing up Brock Jensen for the two-time national champs, Wentz got his shot in 2014. After upsetting Iowa State in Ames in his first start, he led the Bison to a 14-1 season and a national championship. Wentz scored the game-winning TD run with less than a minute left after the team surrendered a two-score lead late and was named game MVP.

In 2015, the Bison lost the opener to Montana and then Wentz, 23, played almost the whole game with a broken wrist in a second loss to South Dakota. The injury cost him the rest of the regular season, but he returned for the national championship game three months after the injury, throwing for a TD and rushing for two more in another championship win. Wentz’s career starting record was 20-3, with two titles.

He emerged as a legitimate first-round pick in scouts’ minds at that point, and a strong week of work at the Senior Bowl (coached by the Dallas Cowboys staff) vaulted him into the top-10 discussion. Following a strong throwing session at the NFL scouting combine and a mostly error-free pro day, Wentz solidified himself as one of the two best quarterbacks in the draft alongside Cal’s Jared Goff.

Best-suited destination: The Bison ran a fascinating offense that has far more NFL overlap than what Goff ran at Cal. The multiple offense they ran included some spread concepts and used designed runs for Wentz, who is an excellent athlete and tough, to boot. Enjoy watching the Carolina Panthers run their offense? There are a lot of similarities.

But it’s rooted in what commonly is called a pro-style system: power formations (two backs or two tight ends), working from under center, huddling up, changing plays at the line, run checks, play action … basically, everything that the majority of NFL teams ask their quarterbacks to do, even as the spread game and shotgun-heavy sets pervade.

That means the team that drafts Wentz — at this point, we have to assume it’s either the Los Angeles Rams or Philadelphia Eagles, with the latter the clubhouse favorite — can assume that the transition to understanding NFL-type concepts will be fluid. Eagles coach Doug Pederson ran myriad formations and mixed in pro and spread concepts (going under center, using shotgun and pistol) with the Chiefs and is likely to do the same in Philly.

Reason he’ll rise in draft: Barring a bizarre occurance, Wentz is going first or second. There’s not much wiggle room. The hay is in the bar. A rise would occur if the Rams have been sending out a smokescreen. Most of the chatter is that Goff is their guy, and an Eagles source clearly led Shutdown Corner to believe that the Eagles think the Rams are taking Goff. At this point, the Eagles would be surprised if Wentz is not there for them at 2.

Reason he’ll fall in draft: Goff goes first. Or Wentz, who is regarded as having exceptional character, does something wildly unexpected in the final week before the draft. It would be completely out of character.

Scouting hot take: “He still needs that snap-to-snap consistency, you see little little hitches here and there in his dropbacks. But the polish is there for the most part. He’s been well-coached. You can’t fool him up on the board either. We gave him a play [at the combine], wiped it off the board right away, fired off about 15 questions to him in the next 12 minutes and had him give it back to us, progression and all. ‘Well, what is the safety rotates right before the snap? What if it’s man? Cover-3?’ He knew what to do. It was like he had run the play 50 times.” — AFC quarterbacks coach

Player comp: Blake Bortles, only more athletic

Expected draft range: First or second overall

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