Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan has a contract that pays an average of more than $20 million per year. However, as more and more quarterbacks receive lucrative contracts, Ryan’s average annual salary slides farther and farther down the list.
Soon, he’ll be out of the top half of the league. With one year left on his current contract, the Falcons hope to get a new deal in place sooner than later.
During a Monday visit with PFT Live, Falcons G.M. Thomas Dimitroff said that the team definitely prefers sooner, since doing a deal sooner will allow them to address other areas in free agency, because they’ll know exactly what will be devoted to Ryan under the cap in 2018 and beyond.
From Ryan’s perspective, however, he may want to go later, after guys like Kirk Cousins, Drew Brees, and Aaron Rodgers sign their new contracts. The fact that Ryan’s agent, Tom Condon, also represents Brees gives Condon an easy way to tap the brakes on a deal for Ryan, at least until Brees is signed, sealed, and delivered to the Saints -- or someone else.
Ryan, whose decade with the Falcons has directly been responsible for the team’s decade of relevance, surely will remain with the Falcons. But time is likely on his side at this point, in part because time isn’t on the team’s.