Just days after the Freddie Freeman era in Atlanta ended, Matt Ryan Epoch also came to an end … and for the Falcons, the time of Marcus Mariota begins.
The Falcons traded their longtime franchise cornerstone to the Indianapolis Colts for a 2022 third-round draft pick. The trade frees up some salary cap space in 2022 and much more in 2023, though Ryan remains a significant dead-cap hit on Atlanta this season.
Atlanta selected Ryan with the third choice of the 2008 design, with the intention of rehabilitating the image of the franchise in the wake of the Michael Vick Dogfighting scandal. Ryan started for the Falcons on the first day of his rookie season in 2008, and would only miss three games over 14 seasons.
He won the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2008, then he won the NFL MVP in 2016. That season, Ryan led the Falcons to the Super Bowl, leading the Patriots 28-3 in the third quarter in what was to come. the last great moment of suffrage. With Tony Gonzalez, Roddy White and Julio Jones as goals, Ryan was one of the league’s everlasting reliable passers-by, though the Falcons as a whole rarely struggled with his skills.
Atlanta is on a course of four straight losing seasons, but Ryan kept his end of the cut, throwing a championship-leading number of finishes in 2019 and 2020 while being fired over 40 times each year. The Falcons reached the playoffs in six of Ryan’s 14 seasons in Atlanta.
Ryan joins a Colts team that came away with a win to make the playoffs last season, and many observers have praised the performance of now-left quarterback Carson Wentz for the team’s failure. The Colts’ chances of winning the Super Bowl jumped from +3000 to +2500, per BetMGM.
Falcons sign Marcus Mariota after trading with Matt Ryan
Shortly after Ryan Deal’s news broke, the Falcons announced they had signed his replacement: former No. 2 overall draft pick Marcus Mariota.
Atlanta signed Mariota to a two-year deal. Mariota is extensively familiar with Falcons head coach Arthur Smith from how the two worked together in Tennessee. Mariota played for the Titans from 2015 to 2019. The Titans then turned on Ryan Tannehill, and Mariota signed with the Raiders. He has served the past two years with Las Vegas as Derek Carr’s backup.
Whether Mariota will end up as Atlanta’s long-term quarterback remains to be seen. The Falcons have the no. Currently, Feleipe Franks is the only other quarterback under contract in Atlanta.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter at @jaybusbee or contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com.
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