Falcons owner Arthur Blank is about to write a very large check to Matt Ryan. But it’s worth remembering that Blank also receives many much larger checks, so perhaps that’s why he’s so calm.
Blank told Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he wasn’t panicked at all about the pace of the negotiations with the former MVP quarterback.
“The most direct and honest answer is: no need to worry, good conversations are happening, they are positive and there’s no timetable for this,” Blank wrote in an e-mail.
Falcons General Manager Thomas Dimitroff said this week he thought the deal was “close,” but given the size of Ryan’s impending deal, who knows how long it takes to bridge the gap.
Ryan’s clearly a better player than Kirk Cousins, but doesn’t have the benefit of an open amrket to drive his value higher, which would be the only thing that keeps him from a bigger deal than the $84 million over three years Cousins got from Minnesota.
By not getting Ryan’s deal done previously, the Falcons weren’t able to do much in free agency this spring. If they can get it done before the season, the cap savings can be funneled into extensions for players such as left tackle Jake Matthews and defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, whose deals are up after this season.