Former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan is eager to get his new career as a game analyst for CBS started, and, if he’s being honest, still trying to process how his last career ended — or if it has even ended at all.
“I mean, it was a s— show, you know, it was a s— show of 18 months basically is the best way to describe it,” Ryan told The Athletic on Monday morning. “But I think everybody in our family handled it well and came out of it stronger and in a really good spot.”
Ryan, 38, spent 14 seasons as Atlanta’s starting quarterback, being named the league’s MVP in 2016 and setting every significant passing record in the organization’s history along the way. He was getting ready for Year 15 with the Falcons in March 2022 when he learned that he was being traded to the Indianapolis Colts for a third-round pick.
“Things kind of escalated quickly within one week and the entire dynamic changed,” he said. “That part was hard, there’s no doubt about it because for 14 years every morning I woke up, I knew exactly what was expected of me. When that changes, that part was difficult, but you get thrust in through a new situation so quickly.”
Although Ryan was “surprised” by the move, he does not believe anyone in Atlanta acted with “malicious intent” during his exit, he said. The quarterback returned to the team’s Flowery Branch training facility for the first time since the trade last week, visiting with coach Arthur Smith, offensive coordinator Dave Ragone and quarterback Desmond Ridder, he said. He has had dinner with Falcons owner Arthur Blank recently as well.
“The biggest thing that I took away from that situation is I wasn’t going to let one bad week ruin 14 years of awesome, of really positive, great experiences,” Ryan said. “You also come to realize the business side of it. I understand that there are difficult decisions that need to be made and there’s a right or wrong way to do those kinds of things. Would I have liked some of it to be different? Yeah, but it wasn’t handled badly. It was just a situation that was difficult for all parties involved.”
It didn’t get any easier in Ryan’s season with the Colts, which included him being benched for the first time in his career midway through the season and then Indianapolis hiring the inexperienced Jeff Saturday as head coach. It’s “hard to pick just one” moment that stood out as the most eye-opening of that experience, Ryan said.
“It was one of those things, you know, I felt like I was going into it in a position where I’d probably seen it all in 14 years and then realize, ‘No you have not, you have not seen it all,’” he said. “There’s a lot of other things that are going to come up. It was a difficult year, there’s no doubt about it.”
Ryan is leaving open the possibility of playing in the NFL again while still “diving pretty deep” into his new job, he said.
“I’m staying in shape. I think it is kind of, ‘You know my number. You know where I’m at.’ If anything were to come up, you know, we’ll see. (CBS) is where my focus is at right now. But we’ll see how the season shakes out.”
Ryan will work on a CBS crew with Andrew Catalon and Tiki Barber, he said. The crew will call Tampa Bay–Minnesota, Baltimore–Cincinnati and Washington-Buffalo to start the season, he said.
“I’m hoping I get a couple Falcons games, which would be fun,” he said.
Required reading
(Photo: Brandon Sloter / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
