Why Jalen Ramsey is Wrong about Matt Ryan

Every person has the right to speak their mind. We’re all entitled to our viewpoints and while all people are equally entitled to give their opinions, not all opinions are equally valid. To put it another way -- you may be entitled to your opinion, but it doesn’t mean your opinion isn’t idiotic.

Enter Jalen Ramsey.

Ramsey -- easily one of the best defensive backs in the NFL -- set the pro football world on fire earlier this week when he offered his take on the league’s best quarterbacks. He praised some while flaming others, one of whom was Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. In reference to

Ryan, Ramsey said:

“I think Matt Ryan’s overrated. You can’t tell me you win MVP two years ago, and then last year, you a complete bust, and you still got Julio Jones? There’s no way that should ever happen. I don’t care. You know what that tells me? That tells me [Offensive Coordinator Kyle] Shanahan left, went to San Francisco, got Garoppolo, made Garoppolo this big thing. And now Garoppolo is a big name—and now [Matt Ryan] has this bad year? Alright, well, was it really you, or was it your coach? He was doing what was asked of him and it was making him look really, really good.”

Ramsey basically argues that Matt Ryan’s success is a product of playing in Kyle Shanahan’s system -- the same system that turned Robert Griffin III in a rookie phenom in Washington, Matt Schaub into a Pro Bowler for Texas in 2009, and Jimmy Garoppolo into one of the most feared quarterbacks in the league after just six starts.

Ramsey is right in pointing out the extent to which Matt Ryan flourished in Shanahan’s system -- in 2016 he set career highs in TD (38), completion rate (69.9%), yards per pass (9.3), and QB rating (117.1) and was named league MVP. BUT...Ramsey also completely ignores the 2015 season in which Ryan had his worst statistical campaign in six years, bottoming out in TD (21), fumbles (12), QB rating (89), and INT (16). His regression was so severe that Falcon’s fans lashed out at Shanahan and were openly calling for his firing before the end of is first full season in Atlanta.

But he had Julio Jones right? The same Julio Jones that last year was second in the NFL in drops and only scored three touchdowns? That’s not to throw shade on Julio -- he's one of the top 2-3 receivers in the game (if not the best). But performance last year was a bit disappointing considering what he’s shown he’s capable of.

And speaking of down years -- here are the numbers for Matt Ryan’s “down” year in 2017:

• 4,095 yards (6th)

• 7.7 yards per attempt (8th)

• 91.4 QB rating (15th)

• 64.7 completion rate (8th)

• 12 INT (13th)

That’s in addition to being the fastest quarterback EVER to reach 40,000 passing yards and holding the NFL record for consecutive 200 yards passing games (64). Not to mention the three Pro Bowls he made BEFORE Shanahan and the NFC Championship game he helped his team reach in 2012.

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Jalen Ramsey is entitled to his opinion. But in the case of Matt Ryan, Ramsey’s opinion is complete and total garbage.