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One of the most bonehead and classless organizational blunders I have seen in a while. After all that Matt Ryan has done for that organization . . . to be treated like an old worn out rag. It's like some middle-aged dude going after the pretty young thing who spurns him and then crawls back on hands and knees to his faithful wife of many years. I expect Ryan will handle this with class as he always has conducted himself but if he remains with Atlanta it will never be the same.

I had some of those thoughts too but then I realized that Ryan has been in the NFL long enough to
understand how it works and what happens nearing the end of your career. I’m sure he knows he’s
no longer in the top echelon of QBs and all teams are trying to improve anywhere they can so it’s no surprise
to him that his job would be in doubt if a player with a higher ceiling is available.
It’s the ugly part of pro sports where someone can be replaced seemingly without a second thought after years
of great service but it happens every year for a number of players.

trents wrote:One of the most bonehead and classless organizational blunders I have seen in a while. After all that Matt Ryan has done for that organization . . . to be treated like an old worn out rag. It's like some middle-aged dude going after the pretty young thing who spurns him and then crawls back on hands and knees to his faithful wife of many years. I expect Ryan will handle this with class as he always has conducted himself but if he remains with Atlanta it will never be the same.

Outside of wanting to trade that "old worn out rag", I don't know what it is or was that the Falcons did to him that was so disrespectful. Ryan will be 37 this coming season, and the Falcons want to go a different direction. They haven't been competitive since 2017, losing in the divisional round of the playoffs and have had 4 straight losing seasons. This is a business, and players treat their teams, and more importantly their fans, no less disrespectful than the Falcons are in dealing with an aging quarterback.

I don't know what quarterback out there that offers the Falcons a better option than Ryan. Baker Mayfield is arguably the best one on the market, and all he has going for him over Ryan is his age. Ryan's contract isn't that gaudy as he's scheduled to get $16.5M this season, $20.5 next year, a bargain basement deal for a former MVP and almost exactly what Mayfield will be earning. Clearly, the Falcons are looking to hit the reset button and get some draft picks for him. Hopefully it's not the Seahawks.

I think Ryan played quite well last year . Haven’t checked stats . But talk about an organization that hasn’t surrounded their franchise guy with players .

Hawktawk wrote:I think Ryan played quite well last year . Haven’t checked stats . But talk about an organization that hasn’t surrounded their franchise guy with players .

Ryan had many quality players around him including Julio Jones.

Don't understand this thread. Ryan is a 37 year old QB. He should retire if he doesn't like that the team wants to move on. No one can force these guys to retire, so what's a team supposed to do when they want to move on? Seek a trade or cut him.

I don't see how it's Atlanta's fault that the 37 year old QB wants to keep playing, but they don't want to have him on the team. So many of these guys don't know when to retire, so they end up moving to another team to extend their career a little longer until they retire due to injury or just a huge drop off in performance.

Hawktawk wrote:I think Ryan played quite well last year . Haven’t checked stats . But talk about an organization that hasn’t surrounded their franchise guy with players .

Ryan consistently ranks in the top 1/3 or so of quarterbacks in most categories, but at 37, he's not the type of player you want on a rebuilding team. He's a lot like Stafford, a QB that can step in on a talent laden team, say like the Niners, and get them over the hump.

I think Ryan won an MVP. Should have won a super bowl with that talent laden team but as opposed to Russ making one terrible throw Ryan spent 30 minutes blowing his . The teams never recovered . I’ll look at his stats but I see him as plenty good enough if you keep him standing up . Definitely not a rebuild guy though . I know Brady’s 45 but Ryan ain’t Brady .

Hawktawk wrote:I think Ryan won an MVP. Should have won a super bowl with that talent laden team but as opposed to Russ making one terrible throw Ryan spent 30 minutes blowing his . The teams never recovered . I’ll look at his stats but I see him as plenty good enough if you keep him standing up . Definitely not a rebuild guy though . I know Brady’s 45 but Ryan ain’t Brady .

Yep, Ryan did win the league MVP in 2016 when he led the Falcons to the SB, losing in overtime. But it was all downhill from there, as they went 10-6 and lost in the divisional round of the playoffs and have had 4 straight losing season. It's pretty easy to see why the Falcons want to part ways and hit the reset button.

The perfect spot for him with be the 49'ers as they have a talent laden team that could "keep him standing up" and he would be re-united with his old OC in Mike Shanahan. It would be much the same move that the Rams did when they brought in another Matt.

The only problem is that they still have Jimmy G. to deal with and they'd have a 2nd quarterback dilemma in Trey Lance. But if the Niners want to win now, they should find a way to get Ryan.

I think you nailed it. The 49ers could use him and he could get them to the top if everything injury wise worked in their favor.
It's all about winning, so if they really want to get to the SB, they probably should consider trading Lance for Ryan, and if not him,
give up a fairly high pick (much more than we should give up for him if we are interested). If they kept Lance, they might end
up in the same position as the Packers with Love sitting on the bench - or maybe it would work out that Lance sitting for 3 years
would have time to really understand the NFL game and be ready when Ryan retires or his contract runs out.