The Atlanta Falcons appeared committed to Matt Ryan at the start of the offseason. The two sides had begun working on a restructured contract, but everything changed when the Falcons entered the mix for Deshaun Watson. Had they not, Ryan probably would not have switched teams. Even he acknowledges that.
During a recent appearance on Ryan Russillo’s podcast, Ryan spoke about the events that led to him being traded to the Indianapolis Colts. He said he understood why the Falcons pursued trading for Watson, but that led to Ryan exploring his options. He felt pretty quickly that the Colts were a perfect fit.
“And as that week went on and just kind of looked into, on my end, what might be the best possible landing spot, or what was best for myself and my family moving forward. As we did that research, to me, it became one spot,” Ryan said, as transcribed by Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. “You never know, though, in that situation whether or not that one spot is also going to feel the same way about you. And for me, fortunately, they did. And they have the belief in me and what I can bring to this team. So, from that standpoint, I think it worked out perfectly on my end.”
Had the Falcons never explored trading for Watson, Ryan says there is a “pretty good chance” he would have remained in Atlanta.
“For 14 years, every day I woke up, it was to try and help the Falcons win a championship. And that had been reciprocated on the other end for me,” Ryan added. “And so when that changed, I had to look into it.”
The Falcons knew there was a risk they could miss out on Watson and lose Ryan, but they were obviously fine with it. Ryan will turn 37 this month, and his skills have declined in recent years. At least one NFL executive thinks the Colts are going to be disappointed in their big trade. It is possible the Falcons felt the same way about him and were ready to move on.
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