Over at Pro Football Focus, Sam Monson is ranking the top 101 NFL players for 2016. His analysis is quantitative, based on PFF's grades from review of game video. Monson also states up front that his list isn't about value because all positions are weighted equally, meaning that "if a run-stuffing nose tackle is that good, he can feature ahead of a Pro Bowl quarterback, even if he can never hope to approach the value of the latter player in today's NFL."
Monson’s first batch of rankings (51-101) features two Falcons: Quarterback Matt Ryan (No. 69) and cornerback Desmond Trufant (No. 72). The rest of Monson’s rankings will be published over the next couple of days ,but I think it’s safe to say that wide receiver Julio Jones and running back Devonta Freeman are the only other Falcons players likely to appear on the list. (Perhaps fullback Patrick DiMarco will make the cut because of Monson's all-positons-are-equal caveat.)
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No Falcons player is more polarizing for fans than Ryan. Ryan is coming off of his worst season since he's been an established pro. But even when things were better, Ryan took heat for his 1-4 playoff record even though you can find fault with plenty of other Falcons (including coaches) during those four losses.
Some of the criticism for Ryan can be attributed to the nature of his position — no other position has a personal wins-loss record, after all. But Monson writes that Ryan “probably takes more undue abuse than most, simply because he’s never likely to be Tom Brady.” I think that’s an overstatement — no reasonable person can expect Ryan to be Brady, but they do expect him to be better.
Writes Monson on Ryan:
"Yes, he will make some poor decisions and has cost his team in places, but he has also had excellent games and been instrumental in big wins that he had no business securing, and consistently grades well when you look at each and every snap. Ryan may never be among the best couple of quarterbacks in the game, but he's a very, very good player despite his flaws."
As for Trufant, his ranking seems a bit low considering PFF’s past love for him but Monson believes Trufant “took an unexpected step backwards in 2015” because his production in coverage slipped. Writes Monson: “2016 is a big season for Trufant in determining who he really is as a corner—a player with elite ability, or just another good-not-great cover guy?”
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