Latest NFL power rankings confirm bias against Commanders’ Carson Wentz

We don’t care what anyone else says. The Washington Commanders did extremely well to acquire Carson Wentz when they did.

At the time, the quarterback market comprised of Jameis Winston, Mitchell Trubisky and Marcus Mariota. We suppose you can lump Deshaun Watson into that group, but he didn’t become available until he was criminal cleared from his sexual harassment allegations, which happened after the Wentz deal.

The former No. 2 overall pick isn’t perfect, but he marks a significant upgrade compared to Taylor Heinicke, who led Washington to seven wins last season despite being severely limited as a pocket passer.

With Wentz presiding over the offense, one would think the Commanders are poised for at least a two- or three-win improvement, right? We certainly do, but the the media clearly thinks Wentz’s volatile tendencies make him a bottom-tier starter, because NFL.com’s latest power rankings are an absolute joke.

The latest NFL power rankings encapsulate the media’s feelings about Commanders’ QB Carson Wentz.

Care to guess where the Commanders rank? That would be No. 26. Here’s what writer Dan Hanzus had to say about the team’s position. Before we do that, though, here are the team’s surrounding Washington in the rankings.

• 20. Pittsburgh Steelers
• 21. Miami Dolphins
• 22. New Orleans Saints
• 23. Carolina Panthers
• 24. Seattle Seahawks
• 25. Chicago Bears
• 26. Washington Commanders
• 27. Atlanta Falcons
• 28. New York Jets
• 29. Detroit Lions
• 30. New York Giants
• 31. Jacksonville Jaguars
• 32. Houston Texans

"” . . . Wentz profiles as an upgrade over the inconsistent Taylor Heinicke, but you wonder if Washington would have ultimately been better off finding a cheaper solution on the open market. Wentz hasn’t been a special player for a long time, and it’s telling that two teams have now cut ties with the former No. 2 overall pick in as many years. Perhaps Wentz can rediscover his 2017 form with a standout supporting cast — that’s just not something the Commanders have at the moment.”"

If that quote doesn’t confirm the media’s bias against Wentz, then nothing will, because it seems as though Hanzus factored in Washington’s trade compensation of Wentz into his decision-making when all that matters in this exercise is that he’s an upgrade over Heinicke and is taking over a talented roster.

Either way, Hanzus doesn’t think highly of Wentz, which is fine. But this is the problem with national writers analyzing the entire league. Lat season, the Commanders won seven games and were only knocked out of the playoff conversation after a COVID-19 outbreak devastated the roster in December.

Need we remind you of the litany of injuries Washington sustained? That they lost their starting QB less than two quarters into the year? That they played the toughest schedule in the league by virtually every metric? They finally upgrade at quarterback and are now somehow a bottom-seven team?

Smell that? It reeks of Wentz hatred.

How else can you justify placing Washington behind Seattle, which is currently projected to start Drew Lock under center, and Carolina, which won five games last year and is still locked into Sam Darnold as its starter?

They’re also behind Chicago, which traded its best defensive player this offseason and has a second-year QB in Justin Fields who completed less than 60% of his passes and threw seven touchdowns to 10 interceptions as a rookie. Not to mention, star wideout Allen Robinson left in free agency.

Getting beyond the team’s ranked ahead of Washington, how exactly are they just one spot ahead of the Falcons, who literally need help at every position? As of this writing, they don’t have a quarterback or wide receiver. But sure, let’s throw them one spot behind Washington because Wentz “hasn’t been a special player.”

And the Commanders being just two spots ahead of the Jets, holders of the longest playoff drought in the NFL at an impossible 12 years who still have a bottom-five roster, is as disrespectful as it gets.

We’re not lobbying for Washington to jump into the top 15. They’ve endured big losses in free agency and will need to hit on their draft picks.

With that said, the team ranking lower in the power rankings than it did at any point during the course of last season is just an encapsulation of how the media has treated Wentz since his final season in Philadelphia.