Assuming the Falcons bring back Matt Ryan next year, they’ll need to find a new clipboard holder for him. Veteran quarterback Matt Schaub is retiring following the 2020 season, Atlanta owner Arthur Blank revealed during his end of season media availability Monday.
It’s a relatively quiet end to a very interesting rollercoaster of a career. A Virginia product, Schaub began his career as a third-round pick of the Falcons all the way back in 2004. Taken in the same class as Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, and Philip Rivers, he only started two games during his three seasons in Atlanta due to the presence of Michael Vick. He showed flashes in limited action though, and it was enough for the Texans to trade two second-round picks for him before the 2007 season.
He went on to spend the next six and a half seasons as Houston’s quarterback, and had some real success there. He made the Pro Bowl twice in 2009 and 2012, and led the NFL in passing in 2009 with 4,770 yards. He suffered a handful of injuries with the Texans and his play fell off a cliff in the 2013 season, after which he was traded to the Raiders. He lost that starting job to a rookie Derek Carr.
Despite an accomplished run with the Texans, he would start just three games the rest of his career after leaving Houston. Two of those came with the Ravens in 2015 in place of an injured Joe Flacco. In 2016 he reunited with the Falcons, and spent the past five years backing up Ryan.
The last start of his career came last season in spot duty, when he threw for 460 yards in a loss to the Seahawks. He didn’t attempt a pass this season, and will now hang up his cleats at the age of 39. The only other quarterback on Atlanta’s roster is 2018 UDFA Kurt Benkert, and they’ll likely add one in the draft at the very least. All of us here at PFR wish Schaub nothing but the best in retirement.
Happy retirement, Matt! People will remember him for his pick-six issues but he actually had a really good couple of years from 2009-2012.
Speaking of Schaub pick 6s. My very first live NFL Game was Monday Night Football Ravens @ Texans in Houston,Texas. I’m a Ravens fan that lives in Louisiana so this was a treat. The game was awesome Ravens jumped out to 21-0 lead. Texans came roaring back behind Andre Johnson going off!
-Schaub led the Texans to a game tying TD pass to Johnson late in 4th qtr to force overtime.
Ravens offense stalls in OT, Texans get the ball with all the momentum, Shaub throws a pick 6 to Josh Wilson on his second pass of OT. Game over!
Made lots of scrilla not getting touched last 7/8 years…..Had a few good years…..hope he’s healthy enough to enjoy all the $$$$$$$$$$
He’s made his money, but to keep making that kind of dough to play a game.. better yet just sit the bench of a game, seems kinda silly to just give away. Surely someone would still take him.
He probably has a sweet commentary or analyst gig lined up that pays good, and he can stay [close to] home, and not have to put on all the tape, pads, etc to stand around and hold said clipboard.
Most of the other players from his draft year are already long retired. Roethlisberger and Rivers are on the verge of retirement. It’s a good time to bow out.
Go before you’re kicked (I imagine Atlanta gave Schaub a heads up on plans for next season).
bravesfan Unless he’s totally dumb and reckless with his money, he probably already made more then enough cash to set him and his family up for life. Why not retire now at age 39? More time for family and whatever else he wants to do and enjoys doing in life.
Look, I don’t disagree with y’all. It’s just hard to pass up that sort of money rather you have it or not. Especially at what’s overall a young age and paid for a game. I’d rather burn out and not be able to sign before I’d retire after that long of a career. What’s league min, 300k ballpark. Much more at this point in his career? Man, that’s serious money after making a ton
Matt Schaub is the modern day Rich Gannon….
He is announcing his retirement early to beat Drew Brees on the announcing gig.
I would’ve guessed he did 6 or 7 years ago. Kudos to him for dragging out a lengthy career.
There really ought to be a Clipboard Holder Hall of Fame somewhere.
He had some good years and made some money good for him. There can only be 32 NFL starters in the world and he was one for awhile and made a small fortune in comparison to your average joe
BR has a post saying Matt earned more than $94M. Good for him!
He got a pretty good contract (at the time) after Houston traded for him. I suspect that accounts for well over half of his total earnings.
Atlanta should draft Justin Fields, have him sit and learn from Matt Ryan, take over for the last couple games of the season and then lead from then on.
I’d even consider trading away Julio Jones for more draft picks. I know teams would definitely be interested, particularly the Baltimore Ravens.
Are there takers for Julio Jones? I didn’t know there was a good market for 32 year old receivers earning $23 million/year coming off of an off-year with what looks like chronic injuries surfacing (hamstring). Better Jones retires a Falcon and the franchise finally shows some integrity. There’s no good out on Jones’s contract so the Falcons are better off just to swallow it (ends in 2023, about right on time for a classy retirement).
Only way to draft fields is if you have the #2 pick, and if they’re trading up to two, they’re starting him. Doubt it happens.
I forgot he was even still playing after his time with the Raiders. In my mind he retired after that.
I thought he was done too, until he had that impressive game against Seattle. In his other relief starts he looked very old, so that one was surprising because he looked fantastic. Schaub was the perfect quarterback for Kubiak’s system in Houston. Not a bad career, kudos to him. It was kind of funny to me that, for years in Atlanta, you could only handle the ball if your name was Matt-Ryan, Bryant, Bosher, or Schaub.
As a side note…man, Atlanta had a REALLY old quarterback room, huh?
Matt Lafleur was also the QB coach at that time lol
Forgot about that, that’s fantastic.
The Atlanta Matthews
Interesting fact
Schaub replaced David Carr is Houston and then was replaced by his brother Derek in Oakland
I remember carefully removing the “Carr” from the back of my #8 Texans jersey and it remaining relevant since Schaub wore the same number. Got a few good years out of that #8 jersey!
He will have a fantastic NFL longevity pension. Good luck!
Made almost $100 million in his career.