Are Julio Jones and Grady Jarrett More Valuable To The Atlanta Falcons Than Matt Ryan?
Now this is interesting.
Or maybe "crazy" is the more appropriate word.
If you go by the folks at Pro Football Focus (PFF), the most valuable person on the Atlanta Falcons isn't Matt Ryan.
It's Julio Jones.
If not Jones, then it's Grady Jarrett.
Here's why PFF said (you know, indirectly) the Falcons' MVP is Jones or Jarrett and not the quarterback who has spent his dozen NFL years helping to make this previously rocky franchise consistent: Jones and Jarrett rank higher than Ryan on PFF's list of the top 50 NFL players entering the 2020 season.
According to the PFF, Jones is third among those top players behind only Los Angeles Rams defensive lineman Aaron Donald and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Jones' lofty ranking makes sense.
The seven-time Pro Bowler has spent the past three seasons with the best "yards per route run" marks among NFL wide receivers.
I mean, Julio is Julio.
As for Jarrett, who PFF said has "been right up there with the best interior defenders in the league not named Aaron Donald," he's 32nd on the list.
Such things happen when you're Jarrett, and you've spent the past two seasons as the most consistent member of a mostly shaky defense.
So let's get this right: Jones is No. 3 on the PFF list, Jarrett is No. 32, and Ryan, well, Ryan, the NFL's 2016 Most Valuable Player didn't make the cut. That's despite Ryan signing a five-year-contract in 2018 for $30 million per season to become the highest-paid player in NFL history at the time.
Ryan also is one of NFL's all-time top 10 quarterbacks in fourth-quarter comebacks, while leading the Falcons to two NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl trip.
Still, this hasn't been the greatest summer for Ryan with rankings.
Just last week, ESPN surveyed NFL executives, coaches, scouts and players to choose the top 10 players at each position.
Ryan didn't make that list, either.
The same went for the week before, when CBS Sports didn't include Ryan in its list of Top 10 NFL quarterbacks.
Which brings us back to Ryan's worth with the Falcons compared to that of Jones and Garrett and today's Saving The Falcons video.
Check it out.
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