Next Up For The Falcons: A Matt Ryan Contract Extension

You may have put Matt Ryan on the back burner the last couple of weeks, what with all that exciting draft talk. It's time to turn your eyes back to the team's awkwardly awesome quarterback.

The Falcons are going to get an extension done with Ryan. It's going to make him one of the five or so highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL, which makes sense considering he put up numbers consistent with about the No. 5 QB in the game last season, and was one of the last four guys standing in the playoffs. The only suspense relates to when and how much.

The important thing is locking up Ryan for the long haul. The team's chances of finding a better option are slim to none, and pairing Ryan with their dynamic corps of offensive weapons is a recipe for success that just needs a little more spice to become a raging five-alarm chili and my God, I've lost control of this metaphor.

I fully expect that the Falcons will have something done in the next month or so. There are very few obstacles to a deal—from all accounts, Ryan wants to stay and the Falcons clearly want him back—so it ought to just be a matter of haggling over cost. Expect him to wind up somewhere around the third-highest paid QB in the NFL when all is said and done, with the Falcons probably looking to land the heaviest cap impacts in years they expect to have the room for it.

When do you think the contract will be done?

Related Link

Don't expect Ryan's contract before the draft