Week 7 at Dolphins
Matt Ryan is coming off a very good performance in London against the Jets with 342 yards and two touchdowns before his bye. In Week 7, he gets what has, surprisingly, become a bad Miami defense (26th in Defense DVOA) who is not coming off a bye after their trip to London (though Miami requested that). Ryan checks in as a top-10 option with a bunch of quarterbacks off this week. He has plenty of streaming upside to get you through this tough fantasy week.
Week 5 vs Jets
Matt Ryan is coming off his best performance of the season with four touchdown passes against Washington. Unfortunately, his defense let him down and Atlanta dropped to 1-3. Week 5 sees the Falcons head across the pond to London to take on the Jets. Ryan has been to London before, back in 2014. He went 20/27 for 228 yards and two touchdowns in a 22-21 loss to the Lions. Quietly, the Jets are a top-12 passing defense through four games. This should be a rather interesting game in London. Ryan will continue to be a solid QB2.
Week 4 vs Washington
Two straight games with two passing touchdowns continue to have Matt Ryan solidly as a QB2 and Week 3 was his first game of 2021 playing every snap. But through three games, that seems to be how Ryan will operate, throwing about 35 times and getting about 250-300 yards and maybe a couple of touchdowns but he won't give you anything on the ground. But he does get Washington in Week 4, who has been struggling on defense thus far, currently sitting as the fourth-worst passing defense in the league. Ryan could be a sneaky DFS start in Week 4.
Week 3 at Giants
Matt Ryan can still sling the football. That wasn't an issue. He has to be happy he won't be seeing Mike Edwards and the rest of the Buccaneers defense again until Week 13. This week, he faces a Giants team that is already off to a rocky start and some even think on the verge of imploding. Ryan also has some history on his side. He's surpassed 300 passing yards in each of his last three games against the Giants with a touchdown pass in each game. He's a very solid QB2 option again.
Week 2 at Buccaneers
It was a very quiet day for the Falcons offense in Week 1, especially Matt Ryan. Just 164 passing yards. Perhaps that was the fired-up Eagles defense under new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon. It doesn't get much easier in Week 2 as they face the Buccaneers, though Dak Prescott threw the football quite well against them in Week 1. Ryan actually performed well in the two meetings with Tampa in 2020, having games of 356 yards and 265 yards with five total touchdowns. Ryan should bounce back and is still worthy of a QB2/Superflex spot in lineups as Atlanta's offense works out their kinks.
Week 1 vs Eagles
The new-look Atlanta Falcons, with new head coach Arthur Smith and without wide receiver Julio Jones, open their new era against the Eagles in Week 1. But Matty Ice is back for his 14th season in Atlanta. He opens against an Eagles team that has had success against Ryan over the years. Ryan has posted just one career 300-yard game against the Eagles, back in 2019. He had three touchdowns but also three interceptions in that game. The Eagles sport a veteran-heavy secondary with the additions of CB Steven Nelson and safety Anthony Harris to go along with CB Darius Slay and safety Rodney McLeod.
Atlanta may look to run the ball more under Arthur Smith with free-agent addition Mike Davis, but they won't put Ryan on the back burner, especially with Calvin Ridley and Kyle Pitts in the mix. Ryan is still very much a solid QB2 for Week 1.
Fantasy Upside
Matt Ryan can still sling it at 36 years old. In fact, no quarterback threw more passes in 2020 than Ryan (626). Ryan's 407 completions also led the league last year. Ryan also has a new head coach in Arthur Smith, who completely turned the career of Ryan Tannehill around. The offense still looks strong on paper, even with the Falcons trading Julio Jones to the Titans. Calvin Ridley had an incredible 2020 and now will be even more of a focal point of the offense and the Falcons drafted a stud tight end in Kyle Pitts with the fourth overall pick of the draft.
Fantasy Downside
Losing Julio Jones certainly stings Ryan's value, but Jones had been banged up in recent years. Regardless, Ryan loses the one of, if not the, best wide receiver he ever got to throw to in his career. What also caps Ryan's ceiling is his lack of rushing ability. He ran for under 100 yards in 2020. Mobile quarterbacks have taken the league by storm (Josh Allen, Kyler Murray, etc). Matt Ryan is not one of those quarterbacks anymore, which lowers his fantasy potential for 2021.
2021 Bottom Line
The Falcons had a really difficult decision to make with the fourth pick and they chose a tight end over a potential future quarterback. That could tell us the team feels this offense just needed a few pieces to make one more run with Ryan. Having Ridley, Gage and Pitts still make Ryan a very viable QB2 with low-end QB1 upside. His lack of rushing ability will keep him behind the likes of Allen and Murray, to name a few.
Week 17 vs Buccaneers
Matt Ryan is coming off back-to-back 300-yard passing games and has thrown five touchdowns in those two games, losses to the Buccaneers and Chiefs. Despite all the ups and downs in Atlanta in 2020, Ryan extended his streak to 10 consecutive 4,000-yard seasons. He'll look to close out the season on a high note with his third straight 300-yard game versus Tampa Bay, both in terms of his active streak and specifically against the Bucs. He'll go at it again without Julio Jones and the long-time connection could be coming to an end.
Week 16 vs Chiefs
Week 15 was Matt Ryan's best game since, arguably, Week 6 against the Vikings. That was the last time Ryan threw for 300 yards in a game and he also tossed three touchdown passes and no interceptions. Quietly, Ryan reached 4,000 passing yards again but hasn't been as explosive as other years. He's our No. 16 quarterback this week for a matchup against the Chiefs, who just gave up three touchdown passes in an exciting game with Drew Brees and the Saints. It's shaping up to be another week, however, without Julio Jones, but fortunately, Calvin Ridley had the great breakout season we all had hoped for.
Week 15 vs Buccaneers
Ryan's quiet season continued in a rough outing against the Chargers, tossing just one touchdown and three interceptions. He has just four touchdowns and four interceptions in the four games since Atlanta's bye. Tampa Bay is 17th in our matchup rankings against quarterbacks but has allowed seven touchdown passes and two games of at least 375 passing yards in the last three games.
