Posts tagged MattRyan at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Last year, as evidence that Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was involved in dog fighting went from circumstantial to overwhelming, Nike remained in Vick's corner.

In fact, Nike still kept its endorsement deal with Vick going even after Vick had been indicted and the NFL had suspended him, even though Nike's deal with Vick specifically stated that the company could get out of it if Vick were charged with a felony. It was only after pressure from groups like the Humane Society intensified that Nike executives finally faced the reality that Vick was costing them a lot more money than he was making for them.

Nike got a PR black eye from the Vick ordeal, but the company hasn't been scared off endorsement deals with Atlanta Falcons quarterbacks. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that new Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan has signed a contract with the company.

No financial details of Ryan's contract were reported, but it's fair to say he's making less than the estimated $5 million a year Vick was making from Nike. The apparel maker, which also signed Darren McFadden to an endorsement deal, had a big Vick-oriented marketing campaign planned last year that had to be scrapped. Ryan and McFadden represent the next generation of Nike NFL stars, and I think it's safe to say these deals will represent a better long-term investment.

This is probably a good idea: after the whole Michael Vick fiasco, the Atlanta Falcons have decided not to feature Matt Ryan as the "face of the franchise."

There were some segments of the internets that considered the Ryan selection a publicity stunt, but, well, that's just silly; the recently deposed face of the franchise is currently incarcerated for first-degree (puppy) murder, and Joey Harrington and Chris Redman aren't exactly guys you can build a team around. That the Ravens were trying to trade up and grab Ryan further suggests that NFL teams in the market for a quarterback considered him worth a top-5 pick (and everybody knows that Baltimore has a keen eye for identifying quarterback talent).

In any case, the Falcons front office will have a new marketing strategy for 2008:

Newly drafted quarterback Matt Ryan will not be a prime player in an advertising campaign planned by the Atlanta Falcons to try to rebuild the team's sagging season-ticket base. ...

"I don't think we're going to sit there and try to harp on one player," said Falcons president Rich McKay, who oversees the team's business operations. "It doesn't mean [Ryan] won't have some appearances or that you won't see him in the community, but I don't think he'll be the focus of our campaign."

For some idea of how bad things were last season, the Falcons saw a steep decline in season-ticket renewals, even though they cut prices. Four wins and myriad off-the-field nuttiness has that effect, Personally, I'm hoping the team builds a marketing strategy around Sam Baker. That guy looks like he can move some season tickets.

The Dolphins didn't think so little of John Beck that they drafted Matt Ryan with the first-overall pick, but they didn't think enough of him to not take Chad Henne a round later. So what does this mean? Well, Beck and Josh McCown will likely battle for the starting job, with Henne taking a year to get acclimated to the whole NFL thing.

Mel Kiper's wig, during a post-draft conference call, doesn't think Henne is a year away from anything other than still being a backup quarterback. In fact, he thought so little of the pick that he slapped the Dolphins with a B-minus draft grade, which obviously makes the 2008 season a complete failure.

"I don't see Chad Henne being a big-time quarterback," Kiper said. ... "When you look at having all day to throw, he's accurate," Kiper said. "He'll put the ball on the numbers every time. But in the NFL you don't get all day to throw. You're going to get pressured. When he was pressured at Michigan that long delivery ... his accuracy wasn't very good. That's an issue moving forward for Chad Henne.

The Dolphins claim that selecting Henne wasn't an indictment of Beck, but if that's the case, it doesn't make much sense for a one-win team to waste a second-round pick on a backup quarterback.

It's one thing to try to rationalize the move if you're New England, but the last thing Miami needs heading into the season are solid backups; there are much bigger needs for solid starters. And for the most part, the Dolphins did just that over the weekend. But Kiper's a stickler: Henne = B-minus.

So maybe the quarterback position wasn't as strong as a lot of mock draft nerds suspected. Matt Ryan went third overall, and the Ravens traded back into the first round to grab Joe Flacco, but Brian Brohm and Chad Henne lasted until late in Round 2. Still, four guys went on the (new and improved!) Day 1 of the draft, which is right about at the historical average*.

But there are still plenty of guys who will be kickin' it in their parents' living room today waiting -- hoping -- that their cell will ring with good news. One of those guys, Kentucky's Andre Woodson, was considered a first-round pick just four months ago, and now, to hear NFL Network's Charlie Casserly tell it, anyway, will be a late Day 2 selection.

Taking a similarly precipitous fall (at least as perceived by the media) is Hawaii's Colt Brennan. Word on the street has the Bears interested, which might explain why Chicago passed on Brohm and Henne on Saturday. (Well, either that or they're certain that their "wishing is believing" personnel strategy will finally pay off with Rex Grossman this season).

In addition to Woodson and Brennan, there are other intriguing names still available for those teams looking for long-term projects. San Diego's Josh Johnson and Oregon's Dennis Dixon are the two biggest and Johnson, after an impressive off-season of workouts, could be gone early in the third round.

* no idea if this is true, but it sounds right

Fantasy FanHouse will be chiming in throughout the NFL draft with fantasy analysis of each fantasy relevant pick.

I'm of the opinion that Matt Ryan is not a franchise quarterback, no matter how much Mel Kiper will justify his 19 interceptions by saying he was "coming from behind." Ryan will, however, be given the reigns in Atlanta next season. He might not start right away -- the Falcons still have Joey Harrington and Chris Redman -- but he'll be taking snaps by week six.

That doesn't necessarily mean that he will be fantasy relevant this year. Well, actually, he'll be relevant, but he will not be worth much for single season leagues. At the very best in a one year league he will be a QB2 option, and that's only for the owner who prefers to take a stud QB early and then wait a long time for a backup. Still, even if you're that type of owner, Ryan is a lower end option at best.

For dynasty/keeper purposes, Ryan certainly has a lot more appeal. He would not be my first draft choice for a keeper league though -- I'd rather spend that on Darren McFadden or Rashard Mendenhall -- but deeper leagues are obviously going to want to jump on Ryan. But I'm not entirely sold, personally. On the other hand, there are a lot of owners who will want to get all up on the Matty Ice hype. If that's the case, I would recommend using him as trade bait. If you get stuck in the keeper draft position of having to draft him though, you could certainly be worse at quarterback.

Boston College's Matt Ryan is the No. 1 quarterback in this draft on everyone's board, and when you're indisputably the No. 1 quarterback, some team is going to fall in love and see you as the future of the franchise. It's no surprise that the Falcons chose him with the third pick in today's NFL draft.

But count me among those who question whether Ryan is an accurate enough passer to be an NFL star. Watching Ryan in college, I saw him make the throws that make NFL scouts drool, but I didn't see him make those throws nearly often enough. A guy who has a great arm only part of the time doesn't have a great arm at all.

Still, there's no reason he can't start for the Falcons as a rookie. This team is desperate for a quarterback, and Ryan doesn't have to be a Pro Bowler to be an upgrade.

Previously on FanHouse:
Fantasy Spin: Matt Ryan to the Falcons
Mock Draft Roundup: It's Going To Be Dorsey
Blank Promises He Won't Interfere
Falcons Won't Draft Ryan
Braves Players Advise Falcons On Draft
Falcons Have Best Haul of Picks

When it was all over, Atlanta decided it's important to put the Michael Vick-era way behind them. With the pick of Matt Ryan, Atlanta has found its new franchise quarterback, the guy who this team will build around for years to come.

Ryan has the top-notch arm, the size and the field awareness to be a potential Pro Bowler. Now he just has to prove he has the accuracy and the decision-making to go with it. But if there is a good sign for the Falcons it's that quarterback is one position where the Falcons have had some success picking in the first round.

It's only been six years since the Falcons last took a quarterback in the first round, but it's actually a very rare thing for Atlanta to take a first-round quarterback. Ryan is only the fifth first-round quarterback in Falcons history. The good news is that three of the previous four were solid quarterbacks. With Michael Vick (2001), Chris Miller (1987) and Steve Bartkowski (1975), the Falcons hit on their last three quarterback picks. When he wasn't fighting dogs, Michael Vick did get the Falcons to the playoffs. Before concussions shortened his career Chris Miller had a pair of 3,000-yard seasons, and Steve Bartkowski was one of the NFC's best quarterbacks for several years. Only Randy Johnson (1966) was a bust. That's significant because the Falcons overall history of first-round picks is awful.

Hopefully Matt Ryan is the fourth hit in a row. There are reasons to be concerned, but the decision has been made. Now the Falcons need to focus their draft priorities in the second round on getting the offensive linemen and wide receivers to surround Ryan. The defense can wait for later.

There are certainly more cliched phrases in football, but labeling Brian Billick an "offensive genius" is somewhere in the top 15. I was sorta hoping we could all move on now that Billick is out of the league, but the NFL Network has seen fit to have Billick pontificate about the NFL Draft this weekend. Swell (in a sleeping gas kinda way).

In any event, Adam Schefter is moving along the story that the Ravens are frantically trying to move up from No. 8 to No. 2 to take Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan. Apparently, Kyle Boller isn't working out. Schefter then asked Billick: how close did the Ravens come last year to trading up for Brady Quinn?

This led Billick to wax nostalgic while still sounding pompous:

Well, uh, I don't recall us making that much ... the way he started to fall back, there weren't a lot of discussions about moving up to get Brady Quinn. And I can't see right now -- the Ravens don't have enough juice to get up to the No. 2 spot; they don't have a third-round pick that they trade, they've just got the two -- it would involve next year's No. 1, and I just can't see Ozzie Newsome and the Ravens doing that. Then again, I didn't think they were going to fire me, so what do I know.

Baltimore appears to have found out that the price to move up from No. 8 to No. 2 is too steep. The thought was that the Ravens would have to leap ahead of the Falcons if they wanted to snag Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan.

But if you're Atlanta, do you at least have to make a call to see how much Baltimore would be willing to pay to move up to No. 3? Atlanta would be giving up Matt Ryan, but they'd potentially pick up the Ravens first-round pick (No. 8 overall), another second-round pick and at least the Ravens 2009 second-round pick.

For a team with a lot of holes, that would seem to be a pretty nice haul. At No. 8, the Falcons would be able to add a franchise left tackle, have four second-round picks to continue completely rebuilding the roster and avoid the salary-cap crippling contract that comes with the No. 3 pick.

Now it's possible that Baltimore wouldn't work out a deal with Atlanta, but wouldn't it be worth making that call?

Just when we thought the St. Louis Rams were prepared to pick Virginia defensive end Chris Long second overall, and that the Atlanta Falcons would then take Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan third, and that the Baltimore Ravens were so desperate to get a quarterback that they could take Michigan's Chad Henne as high as 10th, something wacky happened.

Adam Schefter reported on NFL Network that the Ravens are now trying to trade up and take the Rams' pick, second overall, so that they can get Ryan. That would then create a chain reaction that would have the Falcons taking Glenn Dorsey third, and Long on the board far longer than anyone expected.

The trade might not happen because the Rams won't trade down unless the Ravens blow them away with an offer. But the mere possibility of it happening must have a whole lot of teams at the top of the draft scrambling, just when the draft boards appeared to be falling into place.

On the heels of ESPN's report that the Rams will take defensive end Chris Long, Adam Schefter of the NFL Network is reporting that the Falcons are going to select Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan.

With the way things are going, we might not need to watch the first round--it may all be reported before the draft even begins.

The decision to take Ryan is a somewhat puzzling one. One of the main reasons most reporters cite for the Falcons to take Ryan is that he will help with ticket sales, but is anyone really going to go run out to buy Falcons ticket because they now have a new quarterback standing on the sideline in a baseball cap?

And if Atlanta does send Ryan out there in the near future, how will they keep him from getting killed behind an offensive line that has multiple holes?

It may work out, but if Ryan really is the pick, he better prove to be better than the slew of quarterbacks who will still be available late in the first or early in the second round. There's little doubt that Glenn Dorsey will be better than the defensive tackles available when round two begins.

And yet again, the NFL has its thunder stolen.

With the suspense already removed from the first overall pick after the Dolphins agreed to terms with Jake Long, the cat is out of the bag on the second overall pick, as well. Pretty much every football insider on the planet is reporting that the Rams have decided on defensive end Chris Long.

In an interview on ESPN earlier this morning, Rams VP of personnel Billy Devaney admitted that the team had decided on their player last night, but that player has long been assumed to be Glenn Dorsey.

Long is the smart pick -- he fills the team's most substandard position and brings a multi-dimensionality to it. The pick also means that last year's first rounder, Adam Carriker, will remain at nose tackle instead of being moved outside to end.

As for the aftermath, this throws a wrench in the top 10. Atlanta is supposedly going to take Matt Ryan no matter what (at least that's the word right now), and after that the next team with a true need at tackle will be the Bengals at nine. Dorsey (and by proxy Sedrick Ellis) won't fall that far, but it'll be interesting to see how many teams try to trade up for the tackles seeing as how the drop makes their price more palatable.

That the Ravens could be in the business for a quarterback is hardly news; in fact, it would be more of a story if they finally settled on someone who could hold down the job for more than a year.

The position becomes more of an immediate need now that Steve McNair has retired, although Kyle Boller was just as (in)competent filling in for McNair for parts of last season.

Baltimore used a second-day pick on Troy Smith a year ago, but no one would be surprised if the team drafted Matt Ryan with the eighth-overall pick should he still be hanging around the Aaron Rodgers Memorial Green Room.

But ESPN's John Clayton writes that should Ryan be off the board, the Ravens will probably trade down and try to grab Chad Henne later on Day 1. Sounds about right until you read this:

Most draft experts believe Henne should go in the bottom of the first or the top of the second round, but it's not out of the question for the Ravens to consider him as high as the 10th pick.

Number 10. Hmm. Two things: first the Ravens have a pretty spotless track record when it comes to evaluating talent, and it's hard to criticize their personnel decisions; second, their evaluative powers are rendered useless when it comes to drafting quarterbacks.

I can't imagine this actually happens, but if it does, look for Baltimore to re-draft Kyle Boller in the second round and then make a trade for Chris Redman. It would be only slightly less ludicrous than taking Henne tenth overall, I think.

If the experts are right, we'll see Glenn Dorsey hoisting up a Falcons jersey later today. In our final survey of mock drafts around the Internet, we find that eight of the 13 mock drafts surveyed say that the Falcons will go with the big defensive tackle rather than take a chance on Matt Ryan becoming a franchise quarterback. But what also stands out is how much consensus there is about which are the Falcons two choices. Scout.com's Tom Marino, whose entire mock draft seems contrarian to every other mock draft out there, is the only one to pick someone other than Dorsey or Ryan as the Falcons pick.

All of these mock drafts were done within the past couple of days, as we made sure to only include mock drafts that reflect the Vikings-Chiefs trade, so they should have some of the most up-to-date information possible.

FINAL MOCK DRAFTS
NFL Draft Scout's Rob Rang	Glenn Dorsey, DT, LSU
NFL Draft Scout's Chad Reuter	Matt Ryan, QB, Boston College
CBS Sportsline's Pete Prisco	Glenn Dorsey, DT, LSU
CBS Sportsline's Clark Judge	Glenn Dorsey, DT, LSU
CBS Sportline's Charley Casserly	Glenn Dorsey, DT, LSU
SI.com's Dr. Z	Matt Ryan, QB, Boston College
SI.com's Don Banks	Glenn Dorsey, DT, LSU
SI.com's Beat Writer Roundup	Glenn Dorsey, DT, LSU
NFL.com's Pat Kirwin	Glenn Dorsey, DT, LSU
NFL.com's Vic Carrucci	Glenn Dorsey, DT, LSU
Rivals.com	Matt Ryan, QB, Boston College
Scout.com's Tom Marino	Chris Long, DE, Virginia
NFL Draft Countdown	Matt Ryan, QB, Boston College

The notion of a fancy party for a video game seems odd -- why dress up and go out for something best enjoyed while wearing ratty gym shorts in your own home? But EA Sports apparently knows what they're doing, and they hosted a party at Marquee -- a trendy Manhattan night club -- last night for the release of NCAA Football '09.

Several college football stars in town for the draft attended the party, including cover boy Matt Ryan (pictured), Arkansas running back Darren McFadden (interview here), West Virginia fullback Owen Schmitt, California WR/KR DeSean Jackson, and #1 overall draft pick Jake Long.

The release also included a full demonstration of the game on large flatscreen TVs, an upstairs lounge dedicated to press interviews, and -- most importantly -- free drinks! Huzzah!