The Falcons will have a new coach and a new General Manager in 2021. They additionally may have a new quarterback.
As Monday whether 35-year-old Matt Ryan keeps on being the quarterback of things to come for the Falcons, group proprietor Arthur Blank declined to submit.
“I love Matt, much like I love Dan [Quinn], I love Thomas [Dimitroff],” Blank said in a press conference that featured a pool reporter asking pre-submitted questions, as to the specific topic of Ryan’s interest in playing until he’s 40. “Matt’s been a franchise leader for us. A great quarterback. One of the leading quarterbacks in the last 13 years in the NFL. So I hope he’s gonna be part of our plans going forward. But that will be a decision that I won’t make.
“You know, Matt has the ability to play at a very high level, even at this age. Whether that’s gonna continue or not, I’m not sure. I appreciate his willingness to consider doing that, and the level of what he’s played for us for 13 years, which has been incredible. So I — we’ll have to see. But then again that’s gonna be a decision at the end of the day that’ll be — part of it will be up to the player and part of it will be up to the coaching staff. And whether or not Matt can keep himself together and God willing he’ll be able to do that and play at the level that he’s capable of playing at.”
When a lot of quarterbacks are playing at an elevated level as they approach and outperform 40, there’s no motivation to figure Ryan can’t continue onward. In any case, Blank clarified that whether Ryan stays depends on whether the new system needs him — and whether he needs to stay in Atlanta.
On the off chance that he would not like to remain or if the Falcons don’t need him to, there’s a critical budgetary issue: He has $44.466 million in reward cash that would hit the cap in 2021, if he’s exchanged or cut before June 1. Regardless of whether he stays, he has a cap number of $40.9 million one year from now, alongside a pay of $23 million.
Accordingly, anyway it plays out, the Falcons have a significant financial issue not too far off with Ryan, particularly since the compensation cap could wind up being as low as $175 million one year from now.
