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The NFL Network continues to roll out their Top 100 players. What makes these rankings different than your average opinion rankings is they are decided through actual NFL player polls. The list began at 100 with Derek Carr making the list for the first time in his career, and is now halfway through, which made for at least one interesting observation:
Blake Bortles: No. 56
There are other QB's who were ranked in the meantime, also ahead of Carr, but behind Bortles including Andrew Luck (92), Kirk Cousins (85), and Alex Smith (81).
Bortles was the top QB taken in the 2014 NFL Draft - the same draft that Derek Carr was chosen at pick 36, early in the second round. They have both also started nearly every game in their first two seasons in the league which makes for a nice side-by-side comparison.
I will put their numbers here and let you decide if you think there is a 44 spot difference between these two third-year quarterbacks. The first is their career totals, the second their career averages per ProFootballReference.com.
|
G |
Cmp% |
Yds |
TD |
Y/A |
Rate |
Lng |
Int |
Sk |
|
|
Blake Bortles |
30 |
58.7 |
7336 |
46 |
6.8 |
80.0 |
90 |
35 |
106 |
|
Derek Carr |
32 |
59.6 |
7257 |
53 |
6.2 |
83.7 |
77 |
25 |
55 |
|
Cmp |
Att |
Yds |
TD |
Int |
Sk |
||||
|
Blake Bortles |
21.2 |
36.0 |
244.5 |
1.5 |
1.2 |
3.5 |
|||
|
Derek Carr |
21.8 |
36.6 |
226.8 |
1.7 |
0.8 |
1.7 |
As you can see, their numbers are pretty comparable. Though Carr has the edge in nearly every statistic including completion percentage, touchdowns, interceptions, and passer rating. He also has taken nearly half as many sacks as Bortles.
For those in the ‘what have you done for me lately' crowd, here are their numbers from just last season:
| QBrec | Cmp% | Yds | TD | Int | Y/A | Y/C | Y/G | Rate | QBR | Sk | |
| Blake Bortles | 5-11-0 | 58.6 | 4428 | 35 | 18 | 7.3 | 12.5 | 276.8 | 88.2 | 46.4 | 51 |
| Derek Carr | 7-9-0 | 61.1 | 3987 | 32 | 13 | 7.0 | 11.4 | 249.2 | 91.1 | 49.23 | 31 |
Again, the two of them are close. But Bortles made a considerable jump in his second season, even more so than Carr. Bortles threw for an impressive 4428 yards and 35 touchdowns. But Carr had better numbers in most other categories including completion percentage, interceptions, passer rating, and QBR. He also was sacked 20 fewer times and led his team to two more wins.
The game isn't all about stats and wins and losses are not a quarterback stat. Not to mention some of the better QB's in the league get sacked a lot.
I'd say both the Jaguars and Raiders are happy with their quarterback situation with these two and both are deserving of landing in the top 100. But 44 spots apart? That's the question.
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