Matt Ryan is a prodigy. He's smart, makes good choices under pressure, throws a beautiful long ball, and has poise that took many by surprise. He also throws to a pair of starting receivers that have gotten better each year since they entered the league. Matt Ryan to Roddy White will be the next great connection in the NFL now that they have secured Roddy with a contract extension. Between his WRs, a top-five fantasy RB bruiser in his backfield, and the off-season signing of a soon-to-be Hall of Fame TE, there is plenty to be bullish on.
He finished his rookie campaign with the 11th ranked QB rating (87.7) for QBs with at least 300 attempts. It's always impressive when a first year signal caller is throwing more TDs than INTs as Matt's ratio was 16:11 in favor of TDs. He was 16th in completion percentage (minimum 300 attempts) at 61%, and in the most important statistical category of all - fantasy points - he finished a respectable 16th overall for QBs.
Over the past 15 years, only two rookie signal callers have fared better than Ryan - check it:
Ryan stepped into the best possible scenario a rookie could hope for last season. Atlanta was already reeling from losing their dog-torturing franchise QB, and then had to suffer through a QB merry-go-round consisting of career backups Joey Harrington, Chris Redman, and Byron Leftwich. The expectations on the kid were low, relatively speaking, but the Falcons as a playoff team in '08? The Falcons producing the #2 ranked fantasy RB and a top 10 fantasy WR? None of this was on fantasy radars heading into last season.
