No one was a fan of Matt Ryan coming into the year as he was ranked as the 19th quarterback off the board in the NFFC. That means he wasn’t drafted in a whole bunch of 10/12 team leagues. People expected nothing.

Through three weeks of the NFL season he’s been fantastic. He leads the NFL in QB Rating (119.0). He is fourth in yards (970). He is tied for second in passing scores (eight). He’s third in completion percentage (70.9). He’s been a fantasy star. Period.

So let me ask you. Why did I receive a boatload of questions Tuesday night on Twitter asking me if folks should move on from Ryan? It wasn’t for a big return either as it was often just like ‘let me get a good player and I will totally be happy.’ I had actually one guy ask if he should drop Ryan outright? Seriously. Let’s take a look at Ryan and try to deduce the best way to handle him in 2016.

RECENT HISTORY

Numbers matter.

History matters.

Both are kind to Ryan.

Over each of the last five seasons, 2011-15, Matt Ryan has thrown for at least 4,177 yards.

The following quarterbacks failed to throw for 4,177 yards just last season: Russell Wilson, Derek Carr, Ben Roethlisberger, Cam Newton and Aaron Rodgers.

Ryan’s average yardage total the last five seasons is 4,592 yards.

The following quarterbacks have never thrown for 4,592 yards: Russell Wilson and Cam Newton. Neither have Joe Flacco or Andy Dalton.

Carson Palmer, Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger and Andrew Luck have thrown for 4,592 yards once.

Philip Rivers has done it three times.

Tom Brady has done it four times.

Ryan has averaged that number the last five seasons.

Ryan fell to 21 passing scores last season. That’s a scary mark and one that it likely driving a lot of the concern with Ryan. However, the 2015 season was the first time in five years that he failed to throw for at least 26 passing scores. Over the last six seasons, 2010-2015, Ryan has thrown for an average of 27.3 touchdown passes.

The following quarterbacks failed to throw for 27 scores last season: Andy Dalton, Ryan Tannehill, Jameis Winston, Ben Roethlisberger and Andrew Luck.

Let’s put the two numbers together.

Over the past five years Ryan has thrown for an average of 4,592 passing yards. Over the past six years he’s averaged 27 passing scores.

Get ready to have your mind blown.

1 – The following quarterbacks failed to go 4,592 and 27 last year; Blake Bortles, Cam Newton, Russell Wilson, Derek Carr, Matthew Stafford, Aaron Rodgers, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Kirk Cousins, Andy Dalton, Ryan Tannehill, Jameis Winston, Ben Roethlisberger and Andrew Luck.

2 – From 2011 to 2015 Ben Roethlisberger averaged 4,099 passing yards. That’s nearly 500 fewer yards than Ryan. From 2010 to 2015 Ben Roethlisberger averaged 24.2 passing scores. That’s three fewer than Ryan.

So the last five or six years Ryan has been more productive than Big Ben. ‘That’s not fair Ray since Ryan has played so much more than Ryan,’ I love this line of argument as I continually hear stuff like this fired at me. Let me repeat the fact that I stated. Matt Ryan has been better than Big Ben in yards and touchdowns. It’s a fact. Another fact. The last five years Big Ben has missed eight games. Matt Ryan has missed zero games the last six years. The value of player is directly tied to their ability to be on the field. You can say that Big Ben is better per game, fine, but in terms of fantasy value the last five years Ryan has been better. Just the fact, Jack.

COST OF RYAN

I get it. Sort of.

Most of you drafted Ryan to be your QB2 or you picked him up off waivers. You have little invested in him. That doesn’t mean you simply let him go for .75 cents on the dollar because you can. I never get this line of thought. Just because you bought low on a commodity doesn’t mean you should also sell low. You don’t just give away a player because “you can.” Think of it this way.

A house costs $1,000,000.
You end up buying it for $925,000 because the owners have to sell the home immediately.
Six months later you sell the house for $950,000 because you want to move again.

Yes, you sold the home for more than you bought it but you still are selling it below it’s actual cost. Does that make any sense to you?

We’re dealing with the same thing here.

It doesn’t matter what you paid for Ryan.

Doesn’t matter if you over or underpaid for him on draft day. That’s completely irrelevant at this point now that the games have started. The point is that you have an asset.

Moving an asset at a discount, because you bought him at a discount, seems ludicrous to me. That’s just a dumb thing to do.

THE MATCHUPS

Looking directly at Ryan’s matchups, something that was pointed out to me a lot when folks talked about moving on from the signal caller, here is what we see.

Week 1: Ryan faced the Bucs who are a moderate pass D.
Week 2: Ryan faced the Raiders who are awful.
Week 3: Ryan faced the Saints who are nearly as awful as OAK.
Week 4: Home versus Carolina
Week 5: Road versus Denver
Week 6: Road versus Seahawks
Week 7: Home versus San Diego
Week 8: Home versus Green Bay

Yes, Weeks 1-3 were easy.
Yes, Weeks 4-6 are brutal.
In Weeks 7-8 he faced two teams allowing more than 300 passing yards a game.

Sure the matchups are as difficult the next three weeks as they were easy the first three, but that doesn’t mean Ryan should be bailing on him just cause of the next three matchups.

Last time I looked the season was 17 weeks long with 16 games, right? Why are you bailing on a guy with the assumption that the next three games are tough?

Another point.

The Texans are an elite defense. At least they were until J.J. Watt was hurt sending him to the I.R. Are they still an elite unit without him? Why is it that we worry about the value of players on offense when a player goes down but we fail to show the same level of concern with defenses (must be because most folks don’t play IDP but use the old team defense)? You do realize that defensive players get hurt too, right? Things change dramatically with injury, especially if an elite option goes down, on that side of the football as well. Don’t forget that.

Second, since most seem to think that Ryan isn’t very good and doomed to certain struggles, what are you going to get if you trade him? You’re certainly extremely unlikely to get an offer from someone that remotely approaches the level of success that Ryan has offered to this point. So it won’t be a 100 percent offer in most instances. Further, who really needs a quarterback in your league? No one most likely. That’s why drafting quarterbacks early rarely pays off. Seems likely nearly every team in 10/12 team leagues have an option that could be a QB1 each week unless they just drafted poorly or happened to take Tom Brady and Jay Cutler. It’s possible someone will pay full value for Ryan and if they do you can certainly deal him, but I just don’t know how many leagues in which that will occur.

So you have to ask yourself the following.

Why would you deal away a top-5 quarterback thus far for .75-80 cents on the dollar yet you want 110 percent of value if you’re dealing away David Johnson?

OUTLOOK OF RYAN

We know what Ryan is.

He’s a solid quarterback who can be a top-12 option by year’s end.

He’s unlikely to throw for 5,000 yards or 35 scores, we can all agree, but you cannot tell me that if he plays 16 games, as he does every year, that he can’t throw for 4,600 yards and 28 touchdowns. If he does that he will be a top-12 quarterback. So instead of looking to bail on Ryan because of the matchups the next three weeks why not just pat yourself on the back for making a good move adding Ryan at a depressed cost versus thinking you have to bail on him before he turns into Alex Smith?