Blockbuster: Colts get QB Ryan in trade with Falcons
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts may have found another short-term answer at quarterback by trading for Matt Ryan.
How much longer the soon-to-be 37-year-old, four-time Pro Bowler sticks around isn’t clear.
On Monday, Indy acquired the 2016 NFL MVP from Atlanta for a thirdround pick in this year’s draft (No. 82 overall).
The Falcons wasted no time finding Ryan’s possible replacement — announcing they’d signed free agent Marcus Mariota to a twoyear contract.
For Indy, the deal completes a two-week search for a successor to Carson Wentz, who was traded to the Washington Commanders after just one season with the Colts.
For Indianapolis general manager Chris Ballard, it’s also the latest attempt to plug a hole created by Andrew Luck’s surprise retirement at age 29 just before the start of the 2018 season.
For the Falcons, it was the end of an era.
Ryan had started all but three games for the team since he was drafted No. 3 overall in 2008, leading Atlanta to only the second Super Bowl appearance in franchise history.
His fate was effectively sealed when the Falcons made an ill-fated bid for Deshaun Watson as their new quarterback.
“Matt Ryan has been the epitome of a franchise quarterback,” team owner Arthur Blank said. “It is difficult to overstate what he has meant to me personally, our organization, his teammates and our fans.”
But the Falcons decided to move on with a major rebuilding job that was only made more difficult by Ryan’s onerous contract, which was restructured multiple times in recent years as the team kept pushing a difficult decision down the road without drafting a possible successor.
The Falcons will carry a roughly $40 million cap charge in dead money this season, while Ryan’s salary cap hit for the Colts is a reported $23.75 million in 2022, rising to $28 million if he’s still on the team next year.
“This business is not without its difficult decisions,” Blank said in a statement. “While this is one of the most difficult decisions we have faced as a club, we feel it is in the best long-term interests of both the Atlanta Falcons and Matt Ryan.”
Ryan will become the sixth quarterback to start in Week 1 for the Colts in six years, adding his name to a list that already is composed of Scott Tolzien, Luck, Jacoby Brissett, Philip Rivers and Wentz.
He joins a franchise in which vice chairman Bill Polian once said he considered Ryan the most similar player in the league to Peyton Manning.
“You’ve got to be right (at quarterback) and even if you’re not right, you’ve got to keep firing away until you get it right,“Ballard said during the NFL’s annual scouting combine. “We’ve got to get it right.”
The Falcons put themselves in quite a bind with their pursuit of Watson, surrendering the long-time face of the franchise for a single, second-day draft pick.
As soon as they made a pitch to acquire the embattled Houston quarterback, it became clear Ryan would not want to return to a team where he had played his entire NFL career that then openly tried to replace him.
Watson supposedly narrowed his potential choices for a trade to New Orleans and Atlanta — with speculation the Falcons were the favorite because Watson is a Georgia native. But he changed his mind and accepted a $230 million, fully guaranteed deal with the Cleveland Browns, who sent three first-round picks to the Texans in the deal.
Ryan is undoubtedly the greatest quarterback in Falcons history, arriving from Boston College at a pivotal moment to replace Michael Vick. He steadied a franchise rocked by coach Bobby Petrino’s departure after 13 games and Vick’s imprisonment for running a dogfighting ring.
With Ryan taking over the offense as the starter from Day 1, the Falcons rebounded from a 4-12 mark in 2007 to make the playoffs in his rookie campaign — the first of five consecutive winning seasons and three postseason trips. Until Ryan’s arrival, Atlanta had never even managed back-to-back winning seasons since joining the NFL as an expansion team in 1966.
After several down years for the team, Ryan turned in his greatest season in 2016, throwing for a career-best 4,944 yards with 38 touchdowns. Atlanta appeared headed for its first Super Bowl crown when it built a 28-3 lead over the New England Patriots by late in the third quarter, only to see Tom Brady engineer the greatest comeback in title game history for a 34-28 overtime victory.