After he finished second to land Deshawn WatsonThe Falcons have a big decision to make with their current quarterback. The team “answered sales calls” on Matt Ryan over the past few days, according to Jan Rapoport of the NFL Network (Twitter connection). 
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Today represents an important, albeit artificial, deadline as Ryan has a $7.5 million lineup bonus due at 4:00 pm ET. Falcons pushed back that date last week to make the trade for Watson more viable. However, with the Georgia native gone to Cleveland, they now need to stick to their course of action with the franchise’s signaller.
Rapoport’s colleague Tom Pelissero adds that the process of trade negotiations preceded the inclusion of Atlanta in the pursuit of Watson and continued throughout the weekend. As he points out, the biggest hurdle that needs to be overcome in order for any move to be possible is Ryan’s contract situation. The 36-year-old football player has two years left on his contract, during which time he must pay $51.7 million, and for both seasons the cap exceeded $40 million. The team was believed to have restructured his agreement last week, but they have yet to formalize the move.
The Colts have been cited as a potential landing spot for the former league MVP. As one of the few remaining teams with a vacant starting spot in that position, not to mention a team looking to bring in seasoned but aging veterans such as Philip Rivers – an exchange to Indianapolis will not come as a surprise. On the other hand, they are said to be the preferred destination for Baker Mayfieldwhose team has more reason to make a deal. Aside from that, and the fact that Mayfield is ten years younger and his contract is much cheaper, Ryan won’t be Indianapolis’ only interest.
Ultimately, this situation may be resolved in the coming hours. If the deal doesn’t go through, that would mean Ryan would be left with the only franchise he worked with. If that happens, another QB domino will fall and the Falcon succession plan for that position will begin.