It’s very possible by the time this post comes out, people will have figured out about Matt Ryan and what he can do for their team. I get that but right now I’m looking at a quarterback who is being overlooked given his set-up. Though I’m sure he won’t hold here, having him currently sit as the 16th best QB off the board behind Matt Schaub and – YIKES – Tim Tebow according to Mock Draft Central makes me feel I need to defend him in 500 words or less. Your honor, I object! On what grounds? Um, he’s better than that…man, I need to pay more attention to these law dramas. Anyways, Ryan finished as the 8th best quarterback according to ESPN’s player rater. So how does he get ranked at half price come draft day? I don’t know, the jury is still out on that (sorry, still thinking about that law drama thing).
So you have to keep in mind this isn’t exactly a sleeper piece since it’s about a guy that will most likely be drafted as a QB1. I know, kinda a weird quarterback to write a post on but bear with me. Notice I didn’t say ‘bare’. Put your shirt back on, you’re embarrassing me. Except for you, the 4 female razzball readers…how YOU doin. Anywho, what we have here is a perfect storm of sorts for Ryan to outperform his current ADP and that’s what this article is all about. To set up the positives, we need to first look at some negatives. The negative is Michael Turner. No, not for Ryan, for Turner owners this year. Turner has drifted into the age where he can try out for the remake of the show ‘Thirtysomething’. This could very well be the year the lead back starts slowing down given the wear and tear of his seasons in Atlanta. Now you do want some semblance of a running game to set up the pass and I do think Turner will provide that along with Jacquizz Rodgers. However, Ryan should air it out more this year than he’s needed to in the past and thankfully he has the weapons at hand to make that not be a bad thing. When you have Julio Jones and Roddy White battling for your passing affection, it’s hard to go wrong. In fact, we found it so hard to decide who would have the bigger year between the two, we had to have a Fantasy Face/Off about it. In that link, you’ll find more links to an article about each receiver. It’s like Razzception (cue the Ricola horn gone bad sound). Personally, I think they both have big years. If not, it would be kinda silly to write a post about Ryan, wouldn’t it? When you couple Julio stretching the field out and Roddy doing his 100 reception thing with Tony Gonzalez and his seemingly ageless beauty ability, you’ve really got a quarterback with the potential to bust through the 30 passing touchdown plateau for the first time in his career. If the OTA talks of more no-huddle offense actually sticks, you might be looking at 35 TD potential but I’m not going to base my fantasy prognosis on the whims of off-season talk. Overall, if he finishes as the 5th or 6th best quarterback at the end of 2012, I’m not going to be surprised. If not, I still think you’re getting a bargain with how he’s being ranked. The defense rests, your honor.
2012 Projections: 4300 pass yds, 32 pass TD, 13 INT, 75 rush yds, 1 rush TD, 1 fumble lost
