Atlanta Falcons’ Quarter-Century Team: The Most Impactful Players Since 2000

While the last quarter-century has yet to deliver that elusive Super Bowl championship for fans of the Atlanta Falcons, it has seen the NFC South stalwarts make the postseason eight times, including a Super Bowl loss to the New England Patriots back in 2016. To get a sense of which Atlanta players shined the most during that timeframe, BetGeorgia.com compiled the list of approximate value leaders between 2000 and 2024 from Pro-Football-Reference.com to make the team’s All-Quarter-Century teams on offense, defense and special teams.

Falcons’ Quarter-Century Offense

Position	Player	Years With Team	Approximate Value During Years
QB	Matt Ryan	2008-2021	203
RB	Warrick Dunn	2002-2007	57
WR	Julio Jones	2011-2020	119
WR	Roddy White	2005-2015	107
TE	Alge Crumpler	2001-2007	43
OT	Jake Matthews	2014-Present	93
G	Justin Blalock	2007-2014	65
C	Todd McClure	2000-2012	97
G	Chris Lindstrom	2019-Present	47
OT	Tyson Clabo	2006-2012	55

Offensively, no Falcon did more on the field, value wise, than quarterback Matt Ryan, who amassed a career AV sum of 203 in 222 games with the club from 2008 to 2021, making four Pro Bowls and one All-Pro team during that span. Overall, Ryan is the only player in team history to surpass 200 AV, with left tackle Mike Kenn being the next closest franchise-wide, with 139 AV in 251 games between 1978 and 1994, with the closest modern player being wideout Julio Jones.

Jones finished his run in the heart of the Peach State with 119 AV in 135 games played, putting him 12 points ahead of his fellow wide receiver, Roddy White, who racked up 107 AV in 171 games between 2005 and 2015.

No other Falcons offensive player has managed to eclipse that 100 AV plateau, with center Todd McClure (97 AV in 198 games played from 2000 to 2012) and offensive tackle Jake Matthews (93 AV in 179 games played from 2014 onwards) being the closest to that mark.

Of those players, Matthews is the only one still employed by Atlanta, meaning he’ll likely become the fourth 100 AV member this century on the offensive side of the ball if he can match the 8 AV, he put up in 17 games played last season.

Falcons’ Quarter-Century Defense

Position	Player	Years With Team	Approximate Value During Years
DE	John Abraham	2006-2012	62
DT	Grady Jarrett	2015-2024	67
DT	Jonathan Babineaux	2005-2016	66
DE	Patrick Kerney	2000-2006	53
LB	Keith Brooking	2000-2008	77
LB	Deion Jones	2016-2021	43
LB	Vic Beasley	2015-2019	34
CB	Desmond Trufant	2013-2019	39
S	Thomas DeCoud	2008-2013	37
S	William Moore	2009-2015	33
CB	AJ Terrell	2020-Present	30

Defensively, no Falcons player has managed to come close to 100 AV in their respective runs in Atlanta, with linebacker Keith Brooking being the closest, with 77 AV between 2000 and 2012 (and 84 AV total) during his 11-year run with the club.

Overall, Brooking finished ahead of other defensive stars like defensive tackles Grady Jarrett (67 AV) and Jonathan Babineaux (66 AV), while defensive end John Abraham had 62 AV in 102 games played with the franchise between 2006 and 2012.

Of the members of the defensive players on the Falcons’ list, only cornerback A.J. Terrell is still playing for the club, with the first round pick in 2020 garnering 30 AV in 78 games played with the club over the last half-decade out of Clemson.

Falcons’ Quarter-Century Special Teams

Position	Player	Years With Team	Approximate Value During Years
K	Matt Bryant	2009-2019	37
P	Matthew Bosher	2011-2019	16

In the special teams game, no Falcons players have done more for the franchise than place kicker Matt Bryant, who racked up 37 AV during his 11-year tenure with the team from 2009 to 2019, making him the team’s leader in scoring, with 1,163 points during his run in Atlanta.

Elsewhere, Atlanta’s best punter when broken down by career AV totals was Matt Bosher, who had a career total of 16 AV from 2011 to 2019 with the Falcons, averaging 45.7 yards per attempt and pinning 190 punts inside the opponent’s 20 yard line during that stretch.

USA Today photo by Jason Getz.

Author

Christopher Boan

Christopher Boan has been covering sports and sports betting for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.