The Falcons have locked up their franchise quarterback. Matt Ryan has agreed to a five-year, $150MM extension with the team, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. The deal includes $100MM guaranteed, setting a new all-time record for signal callers. Ryan is now under contract through the 2023 season, keeping him in place through his age-38 season. 
Ryan has thrown for 41,796 yards over the course of his ten-year career with 260 touchdowns against 126 interceptions. In the 2016 season, he became the first Falcons player to win the league’s MVP award as he guided Atlanta to its second Super Bowl appearance. Ryan threw for nearly 5,000 yards in the regular season and completed 71.4% of his passes in the playoffs with zero interceptions.
Ryan set a high standard with his play in 2016, but he had a strong follow-up effort last year. The 32-year-old (he’ll 33 in two weeks) threw for 4,095 yards and tied for second place with Drew Brees amongst all QBs in terms of performance, per Pro Football Focus.
The Falcons passer is now the league’s highest-paid player, but as it usually goes for quarterbacks, he probably won’t hold that title for very long. Assuming that Aaron Rodgers and the Packers are on the same page, Rodgers figures to be next in line for a high-paying extension that will likely top Ryan’s. Ryan’s deal is also good news for young QBs Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota as the Bucs and Titans look to keep them out of the free agent pool in 2019.
Ryan’s $30MM average annual value tops the $28.8MM AAV of Kirk Cousins‘ free agent deal with the Vikings, making him the highest-paid QB in the league on a per-season basis. After that, Jimmy Garoppolo ($27.5MM), Matthew Stafford ($27MM), and Derek Carr ($25MM) round out the top five.
This year, Ryan will look to get the Falcons back in the Super Bowl mix with an offense that is as potent as ever. After losing wide receiver Taylor Gabriel to free agency, the Falcons landed Alabama’s Calvin Ridley late in the first round, a player who many feel could be the best receiver to come out of this year’s class. He’ll learn from superstar Julio Jones and Mohamed Sanu while Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman continue to wreak havoc out of the backfield.
Dumb asses
How much guaranteed?
100m
Momma says, Falcons fans are ornery cause they spent all that money on a quarterback, and never won a Super Bowl.
Well deserved. Kirk Cousins’s contract is based on potential. Lol
13,000 yards and 81 touchdowns in three years is just “potential?”
This could buy a lot of Natty Ice for Matty Ice… but wow is that a ton of guaranteed money.
Just think of what these guys could make if they any kind consistent success like idk…… Tom Brady. Friggin joke
Last 5 super bowl champs made 15M per season or less. When will the league learn it’s a team sport not a QB and 52 min wage guys.
“Last 5 super bowl champs made 15M per season or less.”
What are you talking about? That’s not exactly true. The last five SB QB’s are: Wilson, Brady, Manning, Brady, Foles.
Wilson was on a rookie deal, Foles was a backup (and without Wentz they don’t get to the SB), and both Brady and Manning made more than $15M—and Brady generally takes less than he could actually command so he can have a shot at a SB every year; not every player is so inclined.
Brady also takes less because his wife makes like $40 mil/ year … not everyone has that luxury either
And who knows how much his uggs sponsorship pays out
Who can’t live on $15M a year? I understand wanting to make the most money, and believe me I’d probably grab it too, but you can’t have it both ways. If you take less money then your team has more opportunities to use those resources to better the whole team, but it’s up to the player.
There isn’t a person on the planet, NFL QB or not, who can’t live fabulously on $15M/year.
Okay another person that cannot perform simple math.
Foles + Wentz 2017-18= 5.6M < 15M
Tom Brady 2016-17 = 14.7M 15M
Tom Brady 2014-15 = 13M < 15M
Russell Wilson 2013-14 = .6M < 15M
Joe Flaxseed 2012-13 = 6.7M < 15M
So Mannings 2015 yr was 15M, so one year off. 5 of the last 6 15M or less. Point being, I once you break the bank at QB, game is usually over for your SB run.
I apologize. I down-voted you and up-voted Tom before reading your response. I’m still not convinced of your overall point – if a team manages its salary cap and roster well enough, I think holding onto an elite QB still makes sense – but you had the numbers to back up your argument.
Aaron Rodgers says thank you very much.
Haha for real
Agreed brewcrew. But as a Saints fan, this makes me very happy!! You can’t win a Super Bowl with 30m of your team’s cap to one person. And yes, even if the one person is a very good franchise QB. Take Tom Brady for example. He makes 15m per year. I was hoping Drew Brees would take 17/18-20m this year so we could build around. We could sure use the extra few bucks on a DT Some other depth pieces.
Stupid. 1/5 of the payroll is tied up to 1 person on a 53-person team.
We Ravens fans know what happens when you pay your QB too much.
Except Flaxseed won. Ryan choked.
He sucks, most overrated QB in football