Falcons, Matt Ryan discussing potential front office role for former QB

If you think nothing these Atlanta Falcons do can surprise you, think again.

Per FOX Sports insider Jay Glazer, the Falcons are talking to franchise legend and current CBS Sports analyst Matt Ryan about joining the franchise in what Glazer calls a “significant” front office role. After some jokey conversations about Ryan getting back out there for the Falcons, given how well 44-year-old Phillip Rivers has fared in recent weeks, the team’s longtime franchise quarterback may instead be helping to guide the direction of the team; Glazer says sources close to Ryan indicate he’s seriously considering it.

Because this is so out of left field—Ryan would re-join the team with zero experience as a coach or scout in what is to this point an unspecified role—it’s natural to have questions. Let’s tackle a few of those now.

Why would the Falcons do this?

There are multiple reasons.

If Ryan is being hired as the general manager—which would be a massive leap—it would be about installing someone Arthur Blank knows, likes, and highly regards atop a personnel department that has had an inconsistent track record for the past decade. If it’s it in more of an advisory or assistant role, it would be about getting an extremely intelligent, honest, and sometimes blunt voice in the front office to weigh in on decisions and try to guide this team to more success.

The role matters—more on that below—but the underlying thought process is the same. As a quarterback and then an analyst, Ryan piloted the Falcons to unprecedented success in his career and has become good at breaking down what ails teams; he’s been asked to do so fairly often with Atlanta alongside Zach Klein, Todd France, and Aaron Donald on The Inner Circle podcast. Ryan would be expected to grow into whatever role he occupies despite his lack of experience, something he seems extremely capable of doing, but the “significant” nature of whatever role he’s taking on means he should be expected to have decision-making power or at least a major voice in decisions from the jump.

This makes the most sense if Ryan is slotting into the existing power structure, because he knows Terry Fontenot from their shared year-plus in Atlanta and knows Raheem Morris extremely well after the pair were both employed by the Falcons from 2015-2020. If Arthur Blank were looking to soften the fan ire for keeping Morris and Fontenot while getting a fresh, trusted perspective in the building that (most) fans still appreciate and respect, this would be a logical move. Few people who are not inside the Falcons building understand how it has operated over the past two decades better than Ryan, with all the good and bad that implies, and the few years he’s been spent outside of that power structure should give him ideas as to how to shake things up.

Why would Matt Ryan do this?

Ryan’s already proven to be a good announcer and analyst, and he’s said repeatedly...