Ranking the 30 greatest players in Atlanta Falcons history
Greatest Atlanta Falcons of all-time: No. 1
Stats. . Matt Ryan. 1. player. 44. 1. QB. 2008-2021. Matt Ryan
Matt Ryan and Julio Jones will forever be entwined. There are some who think Julio Jones is the greatest player but most will agree that they are the two greatest players in the history of the Atlanta Falcons.
Matt Ryan gets the edge because he played longer and played the more important position. He really set a new standard for Falcons quarterbacks and became their first sustained, truly great franchise quarterback.
He won OROY in the 2008 season, MVP and OPOY in the 2016 season, led the Falcons to their second Super Bowl, consistently led them to the playoffs without much help by way of defense or offensive line, and owns every franchise record when it comes to quarterback stats.
Matty Ice deserves to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Just look at where he ranks on the all-time leaderboards in different QB stats:
- Passing yards: 7th (62,792)
- Completions: 5th (5,551)
- Passing TDs: 9th (381)
- Passer rating: 18th (93.5)
- Passing yards per game: 8th (268.3)
There are more stats that could be included but you get the idea; Matt Ryan is one of the greatest to ever play the position and one of the most underappreciated players ever.