Atlanta Falcons: Matt Ryan Ranked 10th Best Player

The Atlanta Falcons had multiple players ranked in the annual player rankings that are decided by their peers. Including the MVP Matt Ryan who ranked 10th…

Being the Atlanta Falcons quarterback and winning the Most Valuable Player award would seemingly make Ryan at least a top five player in 2016 if not better. The 10th best ranking for the player who was the best player in football is a questionable ranking for a ranking system that is already taking a fair amount of heat.

While many of the players ranked ahead of Matt Ryan could have arguments made in their favor it is hard to see how a rookie like Ezekiel Elliot is ranked ahead of the MVP. That is to take nothing away for Elliot but in fairness if every NFL team were to have to choose which player to make their franchise player Ryan would be the choice every time.

Not only that but Ryan has the history of being a consistently top quarterback in the League while Elliot has only one season under his belt. While this would not matter if the player rankings where truly based solely on this past season the fact that J.J. Watt ranked so highly and Adrian Peterson was ranked at all is evidence that history does play a role as does the name.

Ryan being ranked in the top ten is exciting for Falcon’s fans but at the same time it also points out another problem with this year’s rankings that have already taken a lot of heat. While the top 100 may have many of the right names the order is iffy at best and with that in mind there shouldn’t be much stock put into the ranking.

Ryan will be looking to continue to build his resume this season and wipe away the Super Bowl collapse the only way he can by winning another.