Pro Football Focus is counting down the dead dog days of summer leading up to the 2021 NFL season by voting and ranking the top 100 players in the league.
Starting at No. 100, PFF ranked Kansas City Chiefs guard Joe Thuney. Right after Thuney, at No. 99, is Atlanta Falcons veteran quarterback Matt Ryan.
No. 99 on the #PFNTop100 – Atlanta #Falcons QB Matt Ryan
Ryan is one of just 3 QBs in NFL history to have multiple seasons w/ 4,500+ yards, 30+ TDs, and 10 or fewer INTs.
And 31 spots later at No. 68 is Pro Bowl edge, Grady Jarrett.
No. 68 on the #PFNTop100 – Atlanta #Falcons DT Grady Jarrett
The 2017 postseason leader in sacks (!!) – Jarrett has recorded 25.5 sacks since being selected in the fifth round in 2015. He’s recorded a pressure rate of 8.1% in four of his last five seasons.
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Jarrett Is No Longer Getting Overlooked
Jarret wasn’t picked until the fifth round (157th overall) of the 2015 draft for being “too small.” Since then, he has recorded 300 combined tackles, 25.5 sacks, and 54 QB pressures.
Jarrett has also earned himself two Pro Bowl invites (in 2019 and 2020) and was named to the 2019 All-Pro second-team.
Here’s what PFF had to say about Jarrett:
There is a reason the Atlanta Falcons want to keep Grady Jarrett around during their rebuild. He’s been one of the league’s premier interior pass rushers for the past few seasons. Unfortunately for him, what was a dominating performance in 2020 was overshadowed by a poor defensive backfield. Nevertheless, Jarrett continued to get to the quarterback despite the poor team performance.
At 28 years old, Jarrett is still in his prime and Falcons new defensive coordinator, Dean Pees, has plans to unleash his full potential this season.
The Falcons Are Confident in Ryan
The Falcons didn’t draft a quarterback this year, which means they’re betting on Ryan, the former MVP, for the 2021 season and beyond.
While some fans are unhappy with this decision, Ryan has been one of the most steady QBs as a starter for 13 years.
He has the elite talent to throw too and now all he needs is a solid offensive line to set him up for success this season.
PFF breaks down why Ryan made the top 100 heading into 2021 and not last year:
Speaking of consistency — Matt Ryan, everybody! Ryan’s ability to be above average in nearly every imaginable metric leads him to the PFN NFL Top 100 list heading into 2021.
Ryan is probably the last true old-school pocket passer to find success at the NFL level. He missed out on cracking PFN’s Top 100 Players in 2020, but despite a nightmare season from a win/loss perspective, he played incredibly well at age 35.
Ryan’s accuracy has always been on the upper end of NFL quarterbacks, and he takes care of the football despite being aggressive and pushing the ball downfield. Still, it’s peculiar that Ryan took fewer sacks as a younger QB than he has in his more advanced years.
In 13 seasons, Ryan has recorded 55,767 passing yards, 347 passing touchdowns, 158 interceptions, 94.5 quarterback rating, and 205 games played.
He has also notched ten total awards: 2008 NFL Offensive Rookie of the year, 2012 NFL completion percentage leader, 2016 NFL MVP, First Team All-Pro, NFL Offensive Player of the year and Passer rating leader, along with Four-time Pro Bowler in 2010, 2012, 2014, & 2016, (was invited in 2018 but declined).
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Matt Ryan, Grady Jarrett Rank Among NFL’s ‘Most Ridiculous’ Athletes