Can I ask why all the hate for Matt Ryan?
Let's completely ignore any question marks people might have against him. Let's assume he would indeed be able to perform well in the NFL.
Drafting Ryan would still be stupid, because we simply don't have the players around him that would enable him to develop his skills. More likely, he'd be spending most of the time on his back.
The *only* scenario in which it makes sense to draft Ryan is if you believe he's a significantly better quarterback than you could "normally" get in the first round. In other words, if we could expect to get a player of roughly his skill (or better) in one of the 2009-2011 drafts, we should spend our first round pick this year on something else.
In the end, it's a question of value. If your o-line sucks, your running game is going to struggle and your quarterback is going to get hit a lot. No running game puts more pressure on your passing game, which isn't a good position to put a rookie quarterback in. Therefore, the added value of drafting a top quarterback isn't nearly as great as drafting e.g. a top offensive tackle.
Personally. I believe a quarterback of Ryan's skill is relatively common in the middle of the first round, so why should we spend our #1 overall on him this year?
Brady Quinn dropped to 22 last year. Leinart and Cutler were 10 and 11, respectively, the year before. Aaron Rodgers and Jason Campbell were drafted in the 20s three years ago. So was Losman the year before that, a draft where Roethlisberger was taken just outside the top 10.
That's a complete list of quarterbacks drafted 10-32 in the last four years. Do you really think Natty Ice, ermm, Matt Ryan is too good to fit in that group?
Author