The Falcons made Matt Ryan a very rich man.
The franchise quarterback, a four-time Pro Bowler, agreed to a five-year contract extension worth $30 million a year. The deal totals $150 million, plus the $19 million he is due next season, with $100 million in guaranteed money Thursday.
Team and player have been working on the details of a new deal for several months. At the end of last season, general manager Thomas Dimitroff said a new deal with Ryan was the offseason priority.
While guiding the Falcons to the playoffs six times and to one Super Bowl, Ryan has completed 3,630 of 5,593 passes (64.9 percent) for 41,796 yards, 260 touchdowns and 126 interceptions. He has a career passer rating of 93.4. The attempts, completions, yards and touchdowns are all-time franchise records.
Ryan has been incredibly durable, starting all 16 games in 9 of 10 seasons. Only a wicked turf toe injury kept him out of two games in the 2009 season.
Ryan has rallied the Falcons to victory with 36 game-winning drives and has staged 27 fourth-quarter comebacks
Ryan, who’s set to turn 33 on May 17, has helped make the Falcons legitimate title contenders after being drafted with the third overall pick of the 2008 NFL draft.
The Falcons were eliminated from the playoffs fives since drafting Ryan and each time they were defeated by the team that went on to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, three times losing to the eventual Super Bowl winners in the Green Bay Packers after the 2010 season, the New York Giants after the 2011 season and the Philadelphia Eagles last season.
Overall, Ryan has a 95-63 regular season record. He is 4-6 in 10 playoff games with one Super Bowl appearance in Super Bowl LI.
Ryan, after a spectacular campaign in his ninth season in the league, was named the NFL’s most valuable player in 2017, the day before playing in his first Super Bowl.
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