Where do Falcons stand on the all-time passing leaderboards?

Behold, a new series to carry us through the remaining drought days of the summer. If all goes well we’re less than a month away from training camp starting, but this will help keep us occupied.

Here’s the gist: We’re going to look at where Falcons stand on the all-time NFL leaderboards for their positions in terms of statistical output, and how many players can be counted among the NFL’s all-time greats, or at least among the all-time producers.

I kept this list to the top 100 in NFL history, and I also tried to keep it to players who spent at least a few productive seasons in Atlanta, which ruled out journeymen and guys like Brett Favre, who did nothing for the Falcons but went on to have a Hall of Fame career elsewhere. These are names you’ll know.

Completed Passes

#9: Matt Ryan, 4,460

#56: Chris Chandler, 2,328

#58: Jeff George, 2,298

#64: Matt Schaub, 2,148

#81: Steve Bartkowski, 1,932

#89: Bobby Hebert, 1,839

#94: Michael Vick, 1,807

Attempted Passes

#11: Matt Ryan, 6,817

#57: Chris Chandler, 4,005

#59: Jeff George, 3,967

#76: Steve Bartkowski, 3,456

#81: Matt Schaub, 3,348

#88: Michael Vick, 3,217

#98: Bobby Hebert, 3,121

Yards

#10: Matt Ryan, 51,186

#58: Chris Chandler, 28,484

#65: Jeff George, 27,602

#72: Matt Schaub, 25,467

#80: Steve Bartkowski, 24,124

#96: Michael Vick, 22,464

Touchdowns

#11: Matt Ryan, 321

#69: Chris Chandler, 170

#82: Steve Bartkowski, 156

#85: Jeff George, 154

#98: Matt Schaub, 136

#100: Bobby Hebert, 135

Passer Rating

#11: Matt Ryan, 94.6

#21: Matt Schaub, 89.5

#72: Jeff George, 80.4

#72: Michael Vick, 80.4

#82: Chris Chandler, 79.1

#92: Bobby Hebert, 78.0

Interceptions

#63: Matt Ryan, 147

#64: Chris Chandler, 146

#66: Steve Bartkowski, 144

#86: Bobby Hebert, 124

#96: Jeff George, 116

Yards Per Game

#5: Matt Ryan, 270.8

#47: Jeff George, 210.7

#77: Steve Bartkowski, 187.0

#83: Bobby Hebert, 183.8

Yards Per Attempt

#21: Matt Schaub, 7.6

#28: Matt Ryan, 7.5

#71: Chris Chandler, 7.1

#87: Jeff George, 7.0

#87: Michael Vick, 7.0

#87: Steve Bartkowski, 7.0

Completion Percentage

#6: Matt Ryan, 65.4%

#14: Matt Schaub, 64.2%

#67: Bobby Hebert, 58.9%

#76: Chris Chandler, 58.1%

#79: Jeff George, 57.9%

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This was fun to look at. Obviously Matt Ryan is at the top of the pile for most of these and among the 10 or so most productive quarterbacks in NFL history, but Matt Schaub surpasses him in yards per attempt, interception efficiency, and comes surprisingly close in passer rating. Michael Vick, Jeff George, Chris Chandler, and Steve Bartkowski all show up on these lists as well, with Chandler or George usually clocking in behind Ryan and Schaub.

Ryan stands alone here because he’s the only guy on this list who played his entire career in Atlanta and he’s the only one who’s either top 10 or will be soon in everything but interceptions. It’s been possibly to underrate him for much of his career, but I think that time is finally passing.

The upshot here is that the Falcons have seven quarterbacks in their history who have a legitimate argument as one of the top 100 passers in league history. Vick falls out of that group several times but belongs because of his awe-inspiring highlights and the running ability that doesn’t show up here (but will in the next list we put together), while Chandler, Schaub, Bartkowski, George, and Hebert all have pretty good cases based on their eras and overall output. Ryan stands head and shoulders above the rest and is the only one with a real Hall of Fame case, but this team has thankfully not just had slouches at quarterback all these years.