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So much for those concerns that agent Tom Condon would take full advantage of the fact that the Falcons desperately needed quarterback Matt Ryan, the No. 3 overall pick in the draft, under contract ASAFP.
The Falcons have announced that Ryan has agreed to terms.
Adam Schefter reports that the six-year package is worth a total of $72 million, with $34.75 million in guaranteed money. Jake Long, the No. 1 overall pick, signed only a five-year deal, but likewise received only $30 million guaranteed.
Ryan is the second first-round pick to sign, and the fifth total draft pick under contract. The Dolphins signed three late-rounders on Monday.
May 20th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
wow. amazing to see a qb who has never played a down in the NFL get more money than peyton and brady. someone end this idiotic rookie pay scale.
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 7 rating(s)
May 20th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Cool, now the McFadden talks should be under way…
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
May 20th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Holy crap.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
May 20th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Condon wanted him to be signed as soon as possible so the Falcons cant undo their pick. biggest reach ever. Thanks for the 2 wins,
John G.
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
May 20th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Maybe Tom Condon has finally learned that it’s better to get your player into camp and let him compete, then hold him out and watch him sit on the bench all year (Brady Quinn) when another QB plays better than expected (Derek Anderson).
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 7 rating(s)
May 20th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
I like to see agents/teams grab a pair and sign somebody right away rather than waiting for the slotting process to play itself out.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
May 20th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Good job today Florio.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
May 20th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Now the question is — will he start in Week 1?
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
May 20th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Ryan = BUST!!
Flacco = Da Shit
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
May 20th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Good, now its time to for Ryan to go earn that paycheck.
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Rating: 4.65 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
May 20th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Wonder how Chad Johnson likes that one?
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
May 20th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Could this sudden signing have anything to do with the recently scrapped CBA???? Hmmmm. God I love this site…
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
May 20th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Wayyyyyyy too much money for Ryan. If the rookie scale doesn’t get fixed, the fact that the #3 pick got more guaranteed money than the #1 is going to make a bigger mess in the future. you can’t have guys like Ryan making more than Brady its ridiculous
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
May 20th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Condon couldn’t have gotten to the point of holding his guy out, even if he had wanted to. It’s hard to justify holding Ryan out when the team accepted what looks like Condon’s initial proposal.
Let’s compare this to what Russell got for being the TOP PICK last year. 6 years…check…Russell gets 61 mil for being #1 and Ryan gets $72 mil for being #3 (Ryan +11 mil)…Russell gets 32 mil guaranteed for being #1 and Ryan gets 34.75 guaranteed for being #3 (Ryan +2.75 mil). Ryan’s getting 25 - 35% more than Vince Young did just 2 years ago at #3.
Hell, the Falcons just rolled over on this one and let Condon have his way with them.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 6 rating(s)
May 20th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
You know, they say college kids should get paid for playing football.
Well, apparently they DO. This kid just got a guaranteed $30M for what he did in college, because he sure ain’t done cr@p in the NFL yet.
If he’s a bust, the Falcons will suck for a decade.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 7 rating(s)
May 20th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
“wow. amazing to see a qb who has never played a down in the NFL get more money than peyton and brady. someone end this idiotic rookie pay scale.”
+1!
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
May 20th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
The Falcons have sucked for 40 years, the next decade won’t hurt. I’m so glad, that as a Vick fan, I can watch (no I can’t, they’ll be blacked out) this franchise and Arthur Blank flounder back to the nothingness from which it came. People, MOST OF MY SECTION (207)DID NOT RENEW OUR SEASON TICKETS. This team has no fans without Vick and any idiot who thought Matt Ryan could energize the MONEY SPENDING PART OF THE FAN BASE (Vick FANs), are out of their mind. 34 Million for that chump, I hope they suffer.
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
May 20th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
This is why there needs to be set scales for all rookie contracts. Period.
no more of this crazy bs. You have players like Romo, Brady, Garrard, etc who WORK THEIR WAY up and prove that they deserve their contracts and yet you have guys that have never taken an NFL snap signing contracts for more than they make…it is just idiotic. I don’t get it.
The NFL needs to establish some sort of precedence and soon because with an uncapped year looming in the future, who knows how much money teams will spend on rookies. Especially when you have owners like Jerry Jones and Dan Snyder who spend cap money like it is monopoly money anyway.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Ryan is going to be a very good QB in the future, but paying him more than guys who have made their teams better and made the playoffs and won Super Bowls? I just cannot get over it.
Set it up that everyone taken in the top 5 get’s said amount for 3 years. Everyone from picks 6 - 10 gets said amount for 3 years. Everyone from picks 11 - 20 gets said amount…etc etc etc. This way they have enough time to develop with their team, prove that they are worthy of such contracts, and make a decent sum of money in the process. This also will provide teams with reasonable cap situations to handle veteran players as well as not re-signing players who bust out like Tim Couch or Ryan Leaf. Obviously, there needs to be some refinement here, but this would not be a bad idea to start with.
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Rating: 3.5 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
May 20th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Matty Heisman is going to be a Pro Bowl caliber QB for a long time. Atlanta fans should be thrilled. Couldn’t have a better person or player to pick up Michael Vick’s slack…
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
May 20th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Hey Arthur, can I get one of those Falcon lottery tickets to?
You could get Bret Favre to come back for 72 Mil.
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May 20th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
well, it sure looks like Condon/Ryan won this negotiation, but at least Falcons fans should be happy that Atlanta is paying a premium to get Ryan into camp, etc. Yes, the more they pay Ryan, the less they have for other players under the cap, but it’s not like they were going to win now anyway, so the important thing for their future is Ryan’s development. Put another way, if Atlanta played hardball in the negotiations and Ryan ended up holding out, he still would have ended up being paid a (slightly smaller) boatload of money, but his rookie season would likely have been not as useful if he missed camp, etc. And the fans would have complained that Blank should stop being cheap and cut the check already. So the Falcons fans should be happy today.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
May 20th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Mistake #1: Drafting Matt Ryan at #3.
Mistake #2: Giving Matt Ryan a $72 mil contract.
Not that I had much respect for the organization to begin with, but what sliver I had left is officially gone.
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
May 20th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
well, it appears the falcon/vick era is over. hallelujah.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
May 20th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Blank is going to hurt for years for the bitchslapping Ryan & Condon gave him.
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May 20th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
With the leftover money they can sign Ryan Leaf as a backup
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