5 Most Valuable Players

[GeorgiaBoyz]

Trucant . Lmfaooo

[marvinthemartian]

Still no love for Matt Bryant. 

[Em_Jae20]

As stated already PFF and WAR in general favor DBs over positions like linemen and running back but Michael Turner should definitely be on that list instead of Trufant.  Also, is Trufant the best cornerback we've had over the past 10 seasons? 

[caponine]

20 minutes ago, Em_Jae20 said:

As stated already PFF and WAR in general favor DBs over positions like linemen and running back but Michael Turner should definitely be on that list instead of Trufant.  Also, is Trufant the best cornerback we've had over the past 10 seasons? 

He's definitely not 

[Rings]

5 hours ago, JD dirtybird21 said:

Here’s what the list should be:

1. Ryan

2. Julio

3. Abraham

4. Roddy

5. Turner

No way any running back is making a top five WAR list.

[Rings]

46 minutes ago, marvinthemartian said:

Still no love for Matt Bryant. 

A kicker will never make any kind of top analytics list, especially not WAR.

[octoslash]

Trufant?  What?

Matt Bryant easily over Trufant.  I mean...that's so obvious.

[JD dirtybird21]

20 minutes ago, Rings said:

No way any running back is making a top five WAR list.

Yea but I don’t care about WAR. I care about that matters 

[Rings]

9 minutes ago, JD dirtybird21 said:

Yea but I don’t care about WAR. I care about that matters 

Fair, but it was a top five WAR list.

I assume your list is your top 5 MVPs then?

[Captain Falcon]

50 minutes ago, caponine said:

He's definitely not 

He absolutely is. Who else would be?  Alford?  Alford was only better than Tru one season. 

[JD dirtybird21]

6 minutes ago, Rings said:

Fair, but it was a top five WAR list.

I assume your list is your top 5 MVPs then?

Lol yea, I assumed because the thread is 5 most valuable players. Perhaps I misunderstood 

[JD dirtybird21]

Just now, Captain Falcon said:

He absolutely is. Who else would be?  Alford?  Alford was only better than Tru one season. 

Grimes and Samuel both better IMO

[Captain Falcon]

13 minutes ago, JD dirtybird21 said:

Grimes and Samuel both better IMO

I’d take Tru over Grimes although I admit it’s close. But I’d definitely take Tru. And Samuel was absolutely great his first year but played like dirt his second year. I appreciate Samuel and the positive play we got from him but Trufants contribution to the franchise is way more significant imo. 

[caponine]

21 minutes ago, Captain Falcon said:

He absolutely is. Who else would be?  Alford?  Alford was only better than Tru one season. 

What @JD dirtybird21 said. Grimes was a dam freak at corner with his vertical. Asante Samuel was a steal , a legendary CB in the game. 

You overrate Trufant a little, he wasnt really that good. He was alright 

[JD dirtybird21]

5 minutes ago, Captain Falcon said:

I’d take Tru over Grimes although I admit it’s close. But I’d definitely take Tru. And Samuel was absolutely great his first year but played like dirt his second year. I appreciate Samuel and the positive play we got from him but Trufants contribution to the franchise is way more significant imo. 

That’s the thing though...what contribution? He’s not actually that significant of a player. He’s never had any signature moments. And during the highest points of the Quinn era, he was hurt. 

[Captain Falcon]

45 minutes ago, JD dirtybird21 said:

That’s the thing though...what contribution? He’s not actually that significant of a player. He’s never had any signature moments. And during the highest points of the Quinn era, he was hurt. 

He didn’t have “signature moments” because he wasn’t a play maker. But he was really good in coverage. There’s more to playing corner than turnovers. If signature plays were everything, even Kevin Mathis would be considered a better corner. Trufant wasn’t great but he was a legit #1 corner. 

[JD dirtybird21]

5 minutes ago, Captain Falcon said:

He didn’t have “signature moments” because he wasn’t a play maker. But he was really good in coverage. There’s more to playing corner than turnovers. If signature plays were everything, even Kevin Mathis would be considered a better corner. Trufant wasn’t great but he was a legit #1 corner. 

I get it...but I also think Trufant was that guy for basically a season and a half. He was awesome in 2015. We all got excited. But in 2016 when he tore his pec, he was never the same after that 

[Em_Jae20]

Wow... how could I have forgotten about Grimey?  I'd take Brent Grimes at his best over Tru at his best and it's not that close

[Slimm]

I'm surprised to see Trufant on that list, but at the same time I'm not.  I think what is telling, is that 4 out of 5 are offense.  Show Ryan hasn't had a consistent defensive force for a while.  However, if this list were the past 5 year I have no doubt Debo and Jarret would be on it. 

[Tribal Chief]

6 hours ago, JD dirtybird21 said:

I get it...but I also think Trufant was that guy for basically a season and a half. He was awesome in 2015. We all got excited. But in 2016 when he tore his pec, he was never the same after that 

Can’t lie. I was skeptical pre injury because he was rarely tested. While rarely getting tested looks good in a fans eyes, it could be a bad thing in reality. Far too many times you see corners getting exposed after they start getting thrown at more than they’re accustomed to. In my eyes he became a victim of that. He had a solid bounce back season last year but it was too little, too late by then. 

[Smiler11]

As great as TG was, I'm not sure he deserves to be on this list having only played only 4 season this decade. I'd probably replace him with either Devonta Freeman or Jake Matthews. 

[Run 'n' Shoot]

The Trufant disrespect in this thread is surprising and disappointing.

Also, considering we haven't had many players that consistently score a positive WAR, you'd expect more appreciation for someone who did for the better part of the decade.

[Vandy]

10 hours ago, JD dirtybird21 said:

Grimes and Samuel both better IMO

Samuel better pre-falcons, Grimes better post-falcons career. Neither had better falcons career than Tru. 

[marvinthemartian]

10 hours ago, Rings said:

A kicker will never make any kind of top analytics list, especially not WAR.

Isn’t WAR wins above replacement?  If so, think of all the games Matt Bryant  won for us or played a key factor in us winning that we would not have won without him. 

[k-train]

My top 5 based solely on which players contributed the most overall to the Falcons during the last 10 years:

1. Matt Ryan
This doesn't need an explanation.

2. Julio Jones
Neither does this.

3. Matt Bryant
He's in the conversation for best kicker in the NFL during the last decade. During the majority of this timeframe, Money Matt was almost always rock-solid from about any distance. The Falcons were in plenty of close games during this span & had a few different spells of red-zone woes, where Bryant was massively critical in getting points on the board to help the Falcons stay in & win games.

4. Jake Matthews
This will get some raised eyebrows for sure, but if we're talking about what someone's brought to the table for the last decade, Jake has to be in the conversation. While he's had some struggles here & there, these things are usually overblown to a degree because people get transfixed on one or two things (the holding call in Super Bowl in this case). For the most part, Jake has been a very solid LT for 6 years now. He's also been incredible resilient, missing just one game in his career thus far. Having that kind of stability at LT is a large reason why Ryan & Jones have had consistent success, and thus Jake is well deserving of being on a list of 5 biggest contributors of the past decade.

5. Roddy White
Roddy had 2 Pro Bowl nods during the last 10 years. From 2010-2013 he was right around 1300 yards & 7-10TDs per year. Missing 2 games in 2014 left him just shy of another 1000 yards 7TD season. He was also helping tutor a young Julio Jones during this time, which in invaluable in it's own right... consider 2010 is when Roddy made that insane play in a game vs the 49ers, running down Nate Clements after what appeared to be a sure pick-6, stripping the ball, and keeping the team in that game. The never quit attitude & determination Roddy displayed seemed to resonate w/ young guys on that team like Julio & Ryan, who've since operated with that same level of determination several times throughout their careers. Roddy set an example that shouldn't be understated, and he had really solid production during this timeframe to match.

Honorable mention: Tony Gonzalez, Matt Bosher
I discuss Gonzo below. As for Bosher, I know placing a punter on here likely gets a few more raised eyebrows, but he was here for basically the entire decade of this timeframe, and until last year, he had only missed one game that entire time. He was one of the best punters in the NFL for a chunk of his time here, playing a massive role in the field position game. He also handled kickoff duties, and was a rock solid holder... playing a key role in Matt Bryant's success, and thus the team's success. And then there was his great attitude on the sidelines & his absolute fearlessness when making a tackle on ST.

Sure guys like Grimes, Abraham, Turner, Freeman, Trufant, Samuel, etc. were all solid players who spent time with the Falcons during the last 10 years... but during that 10 years, many of those players offered only 1-3 seasons of really good play.

Freeman:
Outside of 2 seasons, he was either hurt, or average at best. Really solid in 2015 & 2016, but those were the only times he rushed for over 1000 yards (he's never had more than 1080 rushing yards in a season). He also missed a fair amount of time with injuries & started fumbling too much after those 2 solid seasons.

Turner:
He was still doing his thing in 2010 & 2011 (1300+ rush yards & 11+TDs in each of those seasons). In 2012 he did manage 10TDs, but his carries were down a ton & he only had 800 yards, averaging just 3.6 ypc. He was written off as washed up after that & gone by 2013 in favor of the even more washed up Steven Jackson. Like Freeman, just 2 years of really good production in this time frame doesn't quite cut it for top 5 consideration.

Gonzalez:
He made the Pro Bowl in all 4 of his seasons w/ the Falcons during this time frame. He had at least 859 rec. yards & 7TDs in each of his last 3 seasons here. It was REALLY hard to keep him off the top 5. However, Roddy had a slightly larger contribution during this timeframe, so I gave the #5 spot to him rather than Gonzo.

Abraham:
This was another one that was really hard to leave out of the top 5. Abe only had 3 seasons with the Falcons within the timeframe. Granted, he was just a 1/2 sack away from double-digit sacks in all 3 of those seasons, so his contribution was certainly substantial... just not enough years with the team during the timeframe to justify knocking out someone who contributed well for more seasons. I know this will cause a stink, but Beasley actually had more sacks for the Falcons within this timeframe than Abe did (Vic: 37.5 sacks & 11 FF -vs- Abe: 32.5 sacks & 11 FF).

Trufant:
Tru was solid, but not enough of a playmaker to make the list. Add in that injuries cost him large chunks of 2016 & 2019, and that's even more reason I don't think he makes sense for the top 5.

Grimes:
While Grimes was great in 2010, he missed 1/4 of the 2011 season & basically all of the 2012 season. After that, he was no longer in Atlanta... so we're really just looking at 1.75 good seasons in the timeframe. That's simply not enough to justify a top 5 spot.

Samuel:
He was only in Atlanta for 2 seasons & missed a large chunk of the second one. Like Grimes, just not enough time spent here within the timeframe.