Matt Ryan comments on Falcons’ transition, draft and direction

On transitioning to a head coach/play caller: “It’s been going well. I think obviously, transition requires a lot of effort and a lot of work to learn the new system to make sure that you’re as comfortable as you can possibly be with the terminology. And what they expect from you. There are always nuances in different schemes and how coaches like certain things. I’ve been working really hard to try to get on the same page with them. I’ve been excited that we are able to start and get out on the field this week. Just start to get guys lined up and moving around and making steps in the right direction. (Offensive coordinator) Dave (Raggone) and (head coach) Arthur (Smith) have been great. I’m excited about the future and hopefully winning a bunch of games.”

On some players opting out of the OTAs: “We collectively bargained for it to be optional and voluntary a couple of years ago. I fully support guys making whatever decisions they want to make. Whatever they think is best for them to get themselves ready to go. I think attendance wise, I’m fired up to be here. For me, I feel like it gives me the best opportunity to be successful. I think for all guys they have to make whatever decisions are best for them. That’s kind of been the case throughout my entire career, to be honest with you. There have been guys that haven’t (participated in OTAs). You trust the guys that are doing it on their own are doing a great job of getting themselves ready to go and are in shape. I have a lot of trust and belief that those guys will be ready to rock in July.”

On what he did for his birthday (He turned 36 on Monday): “We took the kids out for an early dinner. They got some chicken fingers and chilled out. A nice day spent with my family. They are more fun in your 20s. Having those birthdays in your 20s. It was a good day.”

On what he knew about Arthur Smith: “Just from a distance. Having watched what they did in Tennessee. I have a bunch of coaches that I’ve played for have worked with him and all of them speak really highly about who he is as a person. Who he is as a football coach. He comes highly recommended from a lot of people that I trust. But I didn’t know him personally, but certainly knew him professionally and watched what they did. They had a lot of success in Tennessee. They did a great job there.”

On when he knew Kyle Pitts was the pick: “Those are not my calls, right. Not under my job description. I leave that to the folks upstairs. I was just as excited. I found out at pick four that he was coming here. He’s worked really hard the first couple of weeks. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know him. But I was excited that night as well.”

On the Falcons not taking a quarterback: “It didn’t really change my confidence level or my approach in any way. I think that I always prepare every year as hard as I possibly can to give myself the best chance to be successful. I’ve always felt that people inside the building have a great amount of belief in me. I have a great belief in myself. You never know how these things are going to shake out in the draft. You never know what players were there, what players were high on their board, those kind of things. You can’t worry about it. To me, it’s one of those things where you just have to stay focused and keep your mindset on the things that are actually going to help you play well in the fall. That’s what I try and do.”

On if he had conversations with GM Terry Fontenot or Arthur Smith about his future before the draft: “No, their jobs as GM and head coach is to try and find the people that they feel are going to best help us win games. That’s exactly what they said. I have a lot of belief that I am that person that’s going to help us win a lot of games. But no, not much more than that.”

On the public debate of the future at QB leading up to the draft: “Not really, I think that in one respect if you play well for long enough these are the conversations that are going to come up. I understand that I’m not going to play forever. But I also have the mindset that I’m still playing really well and have a lot of good football in front of me. But the most important thing for me comes from the belief in the building. The people who are actually making the decisions. The people who are with you day-to-day. That’s kind of where I try to keep it. It’s harder now than ever to avoid the noise. It was certainly easier early in my career. There was less of it. There were less ways to get it. I’ve found that if you’re going to search for it to try and get positive reviews on you. It’s going to affect you in a certain way. Same thing if you’re going to search for it in negatives ways. I try and just stay down the middle and keep my mindset on day-to-day, daily improvement, trying to be the best that I can be and not really worry about what other people say.”

On Tony Gonzalez and Kyle Pitts: “Tony was a first-ballot hall of famer. Arguably the best to ever do it at his position. Certainly, he was the first guy to really change the position into what it is now. So, that’s a lot to live up to and I wouldn’t want to put that pressure on anybody. I think for Kyle the biggest thing is worrying about getting better. Learning the offense and trying to get a little better every day. He’s got great potential. Great upside, but he’s got to focus on daily improvement and try to learn the offense as best he can. If you kind of chip away at it, slowly but surely, the end result will get you to where you want to be. There is not short-cut to it. That’s one of the biggest things that I learned from being around Tony, is that there is really no short-cut to being the best at it. You have to work at it. If he can do that, that will set him off in the right direction.”

On what does an offense with Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley, Kyle Pitts and the other playmakers look like: “We’re really at the beginning of this. We are making sure we can get lined up in our formations. Making sure that we understand what routes we have on certain concepts. I’m excited for the guys that we have in the building for sure. I feel like there are guys that are highly competitive that want to win football games. I’m excited about that from that standpoint, but we have along way to go.”

On Julio Jones’ future and contract situation: “Listen, I love Julio. I’ve been so lucky to play with him for the past decade and he’s an unbelievable player. I don’t get involved in this side of it, from a teammate and player standpoint, he’s my teammate. He’s my guy. You let the other side of it shake out how it is. I know that he’s always ready to go. He’s an incredible competitor and one of the best ever to do it at his position. He’ll have himself ready to go, there is no question about that.”

On new coach Arthur Smith bringing accountability to the Falcons: “Oh yeah, for sure. You get on the meetings, the zoom calls and he’s asking everybody questions. Firing off questions. Making sure that guys are on top of what’s being installed. If they are not, making sure that they know our job as professionals is to find a way to learn this information and make sure that we know it. I think guys have responded well to that. I certainly think he’s made that felt from the beginning.”

On the differences in this scheme: “From a language standpoint, I’ve played in a number of different systems now. It’s like a combination of a couple of them. I’ll go back and the formations are really similar to West Coast formations, which I’ve played in for a number of years. The protections are very similar. The concepts are similar as well. It’s just different names to makes sure that I have the right word association and you’re speaking the right language. The biggest difference comes from getting the flavor for how the coaching staff is going to game plan. What the week is going to look like? How are they going to call plays? Trying to get on the same page as fast as you can is probably the most important part.”

On if there can be balance in pass-first league: “I think there can. I think one of the organizations that was extremely balanced was Tennessee. We’ve got a head coach that is coming in from that system. Obviously, they had a different skill-set of players there. Different guys. I don’t know what it will look like. My job is to try and operate whatever play is called. If it’s 200 more passes than it is runs, we have to find a way to make it work. I think most of the time, teams are at their best when they make defenses defend everything, run, pass, play-action-pass, on the move, just a ton of different things to attack are tough to handle. We’ll see how we shake out, every year is different. We don’t know how injuries are going to go. You don’t know how the season is going to go. You have to try and find a way to get it done.”

On what he appreciates about the game more as a veteran, as opposed to win he was a rookie: “I think, you realize how hard it is at this age. You appreciate the success probably more now. I’ve never really been motivated … I wanted to win, but I really hated losing more than I loved winning. It would eat at you more. I think that only intensifies the older that you get because you realize that your opportunities are limited. I probably appreciate the opportunities more now because I’m not in the first quarter or first half of my career. It makes every chance you get all the more fun.”

On the messy QB situations around the league: “Everybody’s situation is different. I think there had been a shift for sure during my time in the NFL where guys have become more vocal about certain situations. I think that’s a good thing from a player’s standpoint. You want some of that. You want your voice to be heard. I feel like within our organization and within the building that I’ve been in, I’ve been in a real fortunate spot where my voice has been heard. I’ve always felt that way and have always felt appreciated. So, I can’t speak for other peoples’ (Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers were examples) situations. I just feel fortunate that mine’s has been as solid as has been for the better part of 14 years.”

On his limited window of opportunity to win title: “Well, it’s not that limited. I feel pretty good. I’ve got a guy (Tom Brady) in the division, who ... he’s a little longer in the tooth that I am. I still feel pretty good. I just understand it’s not the first half. We’re probably in the second half a little bit more. To answer your question, I feel like we’re in a good place. We’ve got to improve. We have to get better. There is no question about that. But I feel like we’ve got really good people in leadership positions with the mindset and a clear vision for what they want to do. So, it’s our responsibility as players to find a way to be a part of that. That’s what I’m going to try and continue to do as I move forward. I feel like I’m in a good place.”

On if he would have been fine with the team drafting a QB: “I don’t know. It didn’t happen. So, I can’t really answer it honestly. But I understand that’s a part of this business. It’s not easy. It gets magnified at the quarterback position because everything does. This happens to guys every year, every week in our league. People are brought in to try and replace you that are cheaper that are younger and it’s your responsibility as a player to not make that happen. I don’t know what I would have done. Maybe that will happen at some point in the future, but it hasn’t happened yet.”

On if he prepared himself for if the new regime wanted to move on at QB: “Yeah, I think you always do. I think you never know when there is transition what is going to happen. You have to go prove it with the way you work, prove it on the field, earn their respect. I’m still for sure in the process of doing that. I’m in a fortunate position where they’ve got a body of work to look at. I still have to do that everyday. You are constantly having that talk with yourself whether if it’s year one or year 14, whatever year it is, you’re constantly trying to prove that you’re the right person for this spot. I was told at a young age from some veteran players in that locker room, ‘you don’t own the locker, you rent it’ and so I try and pay my rent on time all the time and do the best that I can do to stay in that spot.”

On the draft from his view, getting a weapon and a vote of confidence: “You never know how it’s going to go. The longer you play in this league you know there are no givens. There are not certainties. I didn’t know which direction it was going to go at that point. Obviously, I’m excited. When you see a guy like Kyle Pitts drafted and the potential that he has and the production that he had in college. Those are the things that you look at as a quarterback and you’re like man, I’d love to play with a guy like that. I’ve been fortunate throughout my career to play with a bunch of guys like that and they are fun. They are great to play with. The thing that I’ve been impressed with for him is just his humility and his ability to want to work in the first couple of weeks. I think that’s genuine. I would encourage him to stay that way because to me when you constantly trying to get better and improve, that’s the way you get to where you want to go. He’s certainly off to a good start.”

On what does an offense without Julio Jones look like: “I don’t know. He’s been such a cornerstone of what we’ve done for a long time. I don’t know. That’s a hypothetical and I don’t really want to go down that road. Not really my business. He’s been just such a great player. He’s a helluva teammate. I love him and we’ll see how things shake out. He’s probably impacted my career more significantly than any other player. I’ve been really fortunate to be around him for as long as I have.”

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