Matt Ryan works on footwork, eyes improvement in 2017

If there’s one thing you can count on with Matt Ryan, it’s that he’s not going to rest on his laurels. The offseason brings him new opportunities to better himself, and he invariably takes them, whether they translate into on-the-field improvements or not. We all recall Ryan trying to improve his arm strength and mobility in years past, and he has a new focus this year.

“For me, it always comes back to getting yourself in position to throw the ball most accurately. I feel like even though we did some good things last year, that part is done. We evaluated, we’ve seen some things that can get better in terms of our footwork, in terms of getting in position to throw the ball more consistently. That’s been a point of emphasis for us the first two days. It’s tough to replicate that without doing it live, at full speed. That’s what I’ve been most excited for to get on the field and start working on that footwork stuff that we’ve been trying to get right.”

Ryan will always get knocked for one thing or another, but one of the few persistent knocks from analysts over this offseason has been his accuracy, particularly on deeper throws. It’s obvious that Ryan agrees with that criticism to some extent, because he’s working now to improve that weakness in his game. It’s not a weakness that threatens to derail a season—Ryan was the MVP last year!—but it’s not a bad idea to seek to improve, year after year. He’s not getting any younger, but that doesn’t mean Ryan can’t get better.

If this footwork...work...pays off, we may see another MVP-caliber season from #2. Let it be so.