Matt Ryan’s New Deal

Well, the day every Falcons fan has been talking about has come. Matt Ryan and Tom Condon have finalized the deal with the Atlanta Falcons organization for a 5 year extension worth $103.75 million. The details are as follows: It has $59 million guaranteed, it will not kick in until after his rookie contract ends, and he is a very rich man now.

It is right about where most fans thought it would be but there are some who are saying it is too much. I will try to reserve my judgment until the yearly cap hits are released. As of now though, I am not surprised by the figures and have a feeling this contract will work out better than the last big contract given to a quarterback by this team, cough..Vick..cough. No matter how it turns out the money is comparable to a lot of the bigger named stars in the league today.

Let’s take a look at how this contract stacks up against other top flight quarterbacks of today’s game. We will start with the guaranteed money since that is most relevant number to the team and player. He is guaranteed $59 million which is more than Peyton Manning’s $58 million from Denver and less than Brees’ $60.5 million from New Orleans. So that puts him as the second highest paid quarterback in the NFL today. In that regard Matt Ryan just got a heck of a deal and is going to asked to play up to his contract. Now the overall deal was 5 years for $103.75 million. This year, Joe Flacco got his Super Bowl paycheck which was 6 years at $120.6 million dollars, Aaron Rodgers got a 5 year $130.75 million, and Tony Romo who got 6 year $119.5 million deal. In this regard Ryan has undershot all the rest of the quarterbacks that signed this year. So the team is getting out a little better on this end. Now we all know that a team rarely ever pays the full amount of a contract and the next contract will probably affect this one in some way or another. In any sense both sides have something to be happy about.

In any sense the contract signing is a good sign. The team, just yesterday, finished signing all of the rookie draft picks. This is pointing to the team wanting to have everyone’s full attention for training camp and moving forward. The organization has been going full force into assembling a Super Bowl caliber team and giving your franchise quarterback his big payday is part of the process.

So what does everyone else have to say on the subject? Is it too much money, not enough, or did they hit the nail on the head? Is Matt Ryan going to have to win a Super Bowl to live up to his contract or has he already earned it? Will Matt Ryan ever throw a $100 million contract signing party? Let’s hear it from a fans point of view.