RealGM Wiretap
Colin Kaepernick and Matt Ryan met last January with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line and have advanced to the Elite 8 of our 'Be The GM' series.
Kaepernick completed 62.4 percent of his 218 regular season attempts and threw an interception in just 1.4 percent of those. Kaepernick’s decision-making and accuracy was far more advanced than expected and the strength of his arm puts the entire field in play vertically and horizontally.
Kaepernick is gifted as a runner but is on another plane. Kaepernick ran for 415 yards on 62 attempts (6.6 yards per carry average). His 181 yards and two touchdowns on 16 attempts in the Divisional Round against the Green Bay Packers was one of the most dominant performances from a quarterback in history and even 25 percent of that production would make Kaepernick a future Hall of Famer.
Ryan became one of the NFL’s most accurate quarterbacks last season with an increase in his responsibilities. The Falcons went away from the run and Ryan completed 68.6 percent of his 615 attempts, which shattered his previous career high. Ryan had a passer rating of 99.1, becoming an elite quarterback when it looked like he might plateau on that second strata around 90.0.
Ryan is now 28, but there is little doubt that his skill-set will age well and he almost certainly will get to play the remainder of his career throwing to a legitimate lead receiver in Julio Jones.
After some early career playoff disappointments, the Matty Ice nickname has become deserved. Ryan had a number of remarkable comebacks during the regular season in 2012 and miraculously setup a Matt Bryant field goal to defeat the Seahawks to advance to the NFC Championship Game. We know Ryan is now more than capable of leading a quality team to a Super Bowl and being in that 85-90 percentile while minimizing mistakes is hugely valuable.