Falcons receive: 2022 3rd round pick
Colts receive: QB Matt Ryan
The Falcons stunningly traded away longtime QB Matt Ryan to the Colts on Monday. The move was stunning for several reasons, including costing the team $40M in dead cap in ‘22. For the Colts, this was a brilliant move as they received more compensation from Washington in the Carson Wentz trade than they gave away in their trade to get Matt Ryan from the Falcons. For the Falcons, this was a necessary & yet rushed move after missing out on Deshaun Watson. They knew they needed to trade him on Monday to avoid paying him a $7.5M roster bonus later. How will the significance of this trade impact the Atlanta Falcons organization going forward?
Laughingstock of the NFL
Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words as the Matt Ryan & Julio Jones trades (amongst other things) in back-to-back offseasons have left this team devoid of talent in 2022. Adding insult to injury, they embarrassed themselves further by missing out on Deshaun Watson. All of this after 28-3, four consecutive losing seasons, & the Calvin Ridley gambling fiasco too. Nobody can take the Falcons seriously with Marcus Mariota as their new staring quarterback. Let’s face it, the Falcons join the Jets, Lions, & Texans as amongst the worst teams in the league.
Full rebuild coming
It’s unfortunate that the Falcons won’t come out & say that the team has begun the process of a full-scale rebuild, but let’s not kid ourselves & think that’s not what’s happening. We have a few talented players (Grady Jarrett, AJ Terrell, Cordarrelle Patterson), but three players does not field a competitive 53-man roster, much less one with quarterback questions. Our offensive line needs two to three new starters, and our defense has no pass rush to speak of. There are no NFL-caliber receivers on the roster except Patterson, and we can’t sign any either. Marcus Mariota will likely serve as a bridge QB while we draft & develop a rookie QB in 2022. None of this speaks to us fielding a highly competitive team anytime in the foreseeable future.
End of an era
Believe it or not, the Matt Ryan era has actually been the franchise’s most successful one. He leads the franchise in total wins (120), passing touchdowns (367), and passing yards (59,735). Matt Ryan led the Falcons to the playoffs 6 times, highlighted by a Super Bowl LI berth in 2017. His 4-6 career record in playoff games wasn’t good, but he was our franchise QB for 14 seasons. I’ve got a Matt Ryan jersey hanging in my closet, and I’m just not sure what to do with it now. The two things that I really appreciated about Matt Ryan were his professionalism & toughness. His identity as the face of the Falcons franchise was well suited for him to excel at for decades. Doing all of that while repeatedly getting clobbered by the Falcons “offensive” line wasn’t easy.
The Sports Beacon 