It's easy to forget that Matt Ryan was the 28th quarterback off the draft board -- on average -- in Yahoo leagues and the 21st in ESPN leagues this season. That means he wasn't even drafted as a backup in most 10-team leagues and even some 12-team leagues.
Who could blame fantasy players? Ryan had more turnovers (24) than touchdown passes (21) last season and had thrown double-digit interceptions in all but one of his first eight pro seasons.
Even heading into Week 3, after he had back-to-back 300-yard passing games with a combined 5 touchdowns and 1 interception, he was still available in 71 percent of Yahoo leagues.
He wasn't really embraced by fantasy footballers until his 503-yard, 4-touchdown performance against the Carolina Panthers in Week 4.
Ryan finished the regular season as the second-best fantasy quarterback, ranking second in passing yards (4,944), second in touchdown passes (38), first in quarterback rating (117.1), third in completion percentage (69.9) and first in yards per pass attempt (9.26).
He also did it despite star wide receiver Julio Jones missing two games with a toe injury.
Matt Ryan's 9.26 YPA is highest in the NFL since Kurt Warner's 9.88 in 2000. #Falcons
— Mike Clay (@MikeClayNFL) January 2, 2017
Ryan had 11 games with at least 19 fantasy points -- and that's in leagues where four points are awarded for touchdown passes. He's made a compelling case for league MVP, which is why he was the best waiver-wire pick-up of the season.
ESPN listed its most common players on fantasy finalists, and Ryan was the fourth-highest owned player behind running backs David Johnson of the Arizona Cardinals, LeSean McCoy of the Buffalo Bills and Le'Veon Bell of the Pittsburgh Steelers.