Report: Matt Ryan taking hands off approach during coaching search

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan has had a lot of coaches. He had coaches in high school and college. He's had a variety of coaches, position-specific and coordinators, at the professional level. But former head coach Mike Smith was special. Smitty coached Ryan for 7 years, the entirety of his NFL career to date. That's a long time to be with one coach, and it's the longest Ryan has ever been with one coach.

Now with the search for a new head coach well underway, Ryan is taking a back seat. Not because he's required to - it's just that he trusts the organization. Credit to Vaughn McClure for the quote.

"It's disappointing whenever people that you're close with have to move on, and Mike did an unbelievable job during his tenure as the Falcons head coach," Ryan said. "And for me personally, (he) taught me so much. He'll be missed. There's no question about it. But we understand in this business it's about producing and winning. And I trust that we've got really good people in our organization that are going to take us forward."

You'd have to think Ryan has a preference, and he might've even expressed that preference. But he's not going to interfere, and he's going to give the organization the benefit of the doubt. For now.

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