Atlanta sports has been filled with history-changing moments from throughout the years.
The 1995 and 2021 Atlanta Braves World Series victories, the 1996 Olympics and the infamous Super Bowl 51 runner-up appearance by the Atlanta Falcons all have transformed the essence of Atlanta sports.
Saturday felt like another one of those days.
After nearly four years away from the franchise, Atlanta Falcons great Matt Ryan is coming home. Ryan has signed on to be the new president of football operations, in a role that was largely created for him. He will oversee the day-to-day operations of the team and will play a pivotal role in selecting the new general manager and head coach.
While Ryan, 40, has no experience in a front office role, there is no question that he is the right man for this job.
For 14 years, no one embodied what it meant to be an Atlanta Falcon more than Ryan.
To really measure the impact that Ryan had on the Falcons franchise, you’d have to go back to 2007. For me, as a wee six-year-old boy, I didn’t know the extent of what was going on with the Falcons. But I knew they were… bad (and that’s putting it lightly).
After the Falcons drafted Ryan third overall in the 2008 NFL Draft, he evolved into the franchise quarterback. Outside of his many accolades, including the 2016 Most Valuable Player award, he brought poise, stability and hope to a franchise that often lacks it.
And then, in 2022, he was gone. To be fair, his lackluster 2021 season set the stage for his departure. I, along with many others, thought that it would be the right move to explore a different direction at the quarterback position.
Boy, was I wrong.
One Marcus Mariota, Desmond Ridder, Taylor Heinicke, Kirk Cousins and Michael Penix Jr. later, we still have yet to find our answer at the quarterback position. Many are optimistic that Penix can still be that guy, even after he returns from a third serious knee injury. We’ll see.
The broader point is that a 14-year tenure as a franchise quarterback is extremely rare. In fact, there is currently only one quarterback – Dak Prescott for the Dallas Cowboys – who has been a 10-year starter on one franchise in the league today. To have that token of longevity, you need to be a leader both on and off the field.
Ryan checks all of the boxes. It is clear through the way he conducted himself in interviews, his knowledge of the game and even his concise analysis on CBS that he has an incredible football IQ.
If that wasn’t enough, I would argue that there is no one more synonymous with the Falcons franchise than Matt Ryan.
Yes, there are guys like Steve Bartkowski, Jessie Tuggle, Deion Sanders and even Michael Vick that have a stake in the game. All are amazing players. Do any of them hold as much weight in Atlanta as Matty Ice?
If his 14-year tenure as the franchise quarterback isn’t enough to convince you of this, there will be a second chance in 2026 and beyond. With Ryan’s move back to Atlanta, he has the opportunity to become the undisputed greatest Atlanta Falcon of all time.
There are several steps that he’ll have to get right. He’ll have to hire a solid general manager that can carry forward the momentum from the 2025 NFL Draft. He’ll also have to nail this head coach hire, which has prime candidates like John Harbaugh, Kevin Stefanski and Klint Kubiak all for the taking.
Time will tell if Ryan can lead the Falcons to the promised land like he almost did in 2016-17. It may take a few years to even make the splash our fanbase has so badly prayed for.
But there’s something that Falcons fans across the world feel right now. Something that they haven’t felt since the third quarter of Super Bowl 51: Hope.
Because if anyone can turn things around, it’s the guy that did it for 14 years.
Evan Newton is the managing editor of The Covington News. He can be reached at enewton@covnews.com.
