ATLANTA. After playing 14 seasons and becoming the best quarterback in franchise history, Matt Ryan leaves the Atlanta Falcons.
Atlanta traded Ryan on Monday to the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2022 draft, sources told ESPN Adam Schefter, Chris Mortensen and Dianna Russini.
The Colts were desperate for a quarterback after they traded Carson Wentz to the Washington Commanders for a third-round pick in 2022 and 2023. Ryan will be the Colts’ seventh Week 1 starter in as many years and the fifth starting quarterback under Coach Frank. Reich’s stay.
The Colts have been looking for a long-term answer since Andrew Luck retired in August 2019. Ryan will become the second quarterback in the past three seasons at the end of his career to be acquired by the Colts. Veteran Philip Rivers retired at the end of the 2020 season after only one season.
| Total QBR | 46 | 55 |
| Comp. percent | 67% | 62% |
| Yards per return | 6.1 | 6.1 |
| Complete TD-INT | 20-12 | 27-7 |
| — ESPN statistics and information |
The Colts’ odds of winning the Super Bowl improved slightly after the trade, with Caesars Sportsbook moving Indianapolis from 30-1 to 25-1.
Talk of Ryan’s departure was revived early in the new league year when the Falcons became part of a group of teams interested in trading quarterback Deshawn Watson. Leaders throughout the Atlanta organization met with Watson of Gainesville, Georgia and attempted to lure him into the Falcons despite 22 open civil lawsuits filed by women alleging the quarterback was sexually harassing and sexually assaulting.
As part of this pursuit, the Falcons and Ryan delayed the $7.5 million bonus payment until Monday to allow Watson’s courtship to end and allow Ryan to look for trading partners. Watson eventually waived his no-trade clause to move to the Cleveland Browns, but this also put the Falcons in the position of having to publicly seek a succession plan for Ryan.
The deal will leave the Falcons with $40.525 million on its salary cap this season. According to research by ESPN Stats & Information, this is the largest known dead money collection for any player of all time.
A few weeks earlier, during Super Bowl week, Falcons owner Arthur Blank said the team had been mulling over a succession plan for Ryan for the last couple of seasons. Pursuing Watson clearly became one of the succession options. Now the Falcons will have to push this plan further.
At the end of the season, Falcons head coach Arthur Smith constantly praised Ryan, but did not offer him to become the team’s quarterback in 2022, constantly saying that he did not want to paint himself into a corner, despite how much he respects the veteran. leader.
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“There aren’t many guys like Matt who can work at the same level as him,” Smith said. “Leadership, real leadership that happens behind the scenes. The way he prepares. He’s the same guy every day. It’s a huge compliment for him.”
Ryan, meanwhile, made it clear in January that he hoped to stay at the club for his 15th season – he’s said it every time he’s been asked about it for months. He said he believed in Smith and what the Falcons were building and what they were doing with their roster.
Ryan, 36, who will turn 37 in May, has been a staunch Falcons supporter since being selected third overall by the club in 2008. The Falcons hoped he would be the franchise’s next quarterback after Michael Vick, who was waived by the team after a dog fighting scandal that sent him to jail.
Ryan proved to be a good choice almost immediately. His first pass was a touchdown—62 yards to Michael Jenkins—and ended up being the NFL’s all-time leading hitter in 2008. At 6’4″ and 217 pounds, Ryan has been one of the team’s leaders since then, a solid player in the most important position in the sport.
In 14 years in Atlanta, he missed only three games – two in 2009 and one in 2019. From 2011 to his final season, he threw for at least 4,000 yards every season he threw for 3,968 yards. He has had at least 20 touchdowns a year since his rookie season in 2008 when he had 16 assists.
| Category | |
|---|---|
| victories | 120 |
| Passing yards | 59 735 |
| Pass TD | 367 |
| Interceptions | 170 |
| Completions | 5242 |
| Attempts | 8003 |
| — ESPN statistics and information | |
Ryan won the Pro Bowl four times with the Falcons, but no season has been more impressive than in 2016, when Ryan completed 69.9% of his passes for 4,944 yards and 38 touchdowns with seven interceptions.
He was named NFL MVP that season and led Atlanta to Super Bowl LI against the New England Patriots. This Super Bowl will be one of his enduring legacies with the Falcons. In the third quarter, Atlanta had a 28–3 lead over the Patriots, but ultimately lost in overtime 34–28.
Ryan made the playoffs the following year, 2017, but the Falcons have not had a win since.
During those four seasons, Ryan was fired 40 or more times in each of those seasons. He has rarely had a competent defense in the past four seasons and last season played with a lineup that had wide receiver Julio Jones replaced, WR Calvin Ridley missed three-quarters of the season so he could focus on his mental health and WR. Russell Gage is injured for a quarter of the season.
Four consecutive losing seasons, combined with a solid contract — Ryan had a cap of over $48 million — made Ryan a potentially expendable player. And now, like many of his contemporaries – Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Matthew Stafford and Russell Wilson – he will end his career not where it began.
Mike Wells and David Purdum of ESPN contributed to this report.