Matt Ryan isn’t a stopgap solution at QB for the Colts. Owner Jim Irsay told reporters that he could envision a multiyear partnership with the veteran quarterback, and he refused to compare the situation to Philip Rivers‘ one-year stint with the organization.
“Matt is different than Philip, this is definitely different than that,” Irsay said (via ESPN’s Mike Wells). “It’s not drafting Andrew Luck, but it’s different than Philip. We knew Philip was going to be a one-year sort of thing and we view this as very possibly a three-year thing. Who knows. It’s hard to put a number on it.”
While the Colts seem content to ride with the 36-year-old quarterback for the foreseeable future, Irsay also admitted that the front office is continuing to target young options at the position.
“We hope Matt can be here for four years, maybe,” Irsay said. “We certainly have our radar out for a young guy that can be the long-term future.”
Ryan had one of the least-productive seasons of his career in 2021. He went 7-10 in 17 starts, throwing for 3,968 yards, 20 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. The veteran still has two years remaining on the five-year, $150MM extension he signed with the Falcons in 2018, and his cap hit means he’s pretty much locked in for at least the next two seasons. That’s fine with Ryan, who’s excited to join the Colts.
“I’m excited to be a part of a team where there’s other guys to lean on, too,” Ryan said (via NFL.com’s Nick Shook). “You can turn around and hand that thing off. (Jonathan Taylor) can go for big numbers for us. You got good wide receivers, good tight ends, great offensive line, really good defense. To me, that’s one of the things that has me most excited.”
I highly doubt that anyone would have signed Rivers knowingly that there was zero chance for his return. After he left, the Colts tried to have him return. Rivers even said that he’sd possibly come back for a championship contending team, and Indy wasn’t out of the race late in the year. Nobody, least of Rivers, said absolutely that he was 100% done with football. The Colts thought that he had something left, just as they do Ryan.
These comments seem a bit revisionist to me. Irsay sounds like he’s trying to convince fans who think that the Rivers experiment was a failure otherwise (I don’t think that it was a failure, for the record).
I thought they were dumb to dump Wentz
easy to jump on the blame-wagon, but Wentz is and was a top 15 QB last year
Ryan might have one decent year there before retiring. I doubt it tho
They couldn’t forgive him after the Jaguars loss — Jim Irsay said that (in so many words) and I do not blame him/them.
well if you watched the game it wasn’t Wentz fault they couldn’t stop the pass rush
Wentz was 27 TD 7 INT on a run heavy offense
Ryan 20 to 12 in a garbage time passing offense
Wentz also makes inexplicably boneheaded plays and lost games to
COVID. There were rumors that Wentz wasn’t popular in the locker room just like in Philly. It was more than just the loss to the Jags.
imagine what Wentz would’ve done in a full season
Yep. I like the decision to move on. They have too many players in their prime to waste years. I think Wentz is a good QB but he definitely has to be in the right culture. He isn’t the leader that some of these top tier QBs are. Both Philly and Indy had issues with him in the locker room. When there’s smoke, right?
Wentz was not a top 15 QB last season. The defense and run game carried him. They couldn’t win when they fell behind and needed him to lead the way.
They’re getting more leadership out of Ryan under center ,
but they’re not improving their passing game
I don’t think they’re vaulting their passing game into one of the highest echelons, but I do think they’re improving it a good notch.
Goku – you have no idea what you’re talking about. The first time Ryan runs a successful 2 minute drill or wins a game late, both of these things Colts fans haven’t seen in over a year, so when Ryan accomplishes this early in 2022; he with one will surpass Wentz. Don’t look at 27 & 7, look at the teams rank in passing; look at the lack of leading the team to victory. Jonathan Taylor was the Colts offense last year. Wentz was decent in the 1st qtr, following a script. He was mediocre in qtr’s 2 & 3, and horrible in the 4th.
I love all the hype for a 37 year old qb
and all the hate for a 23 year old 1st rounder
…having watched Ben last year, I’ll tell ya that I’m very happy to be the one with a 23 year old.
I don’t think Matt Ryan has the gull to get thru more than 1 playoff win
Irsay just needs to refrain from this kind of rambling. He doesn’t have a clue.
Dude he is 36-37, he has 1 or 2 years left and then it’s time to move on.
Yeah, he’s never had a huge arm. The Colts better hope he doesn’t suddenly lose the ability to throw downfield at all (like Breese and Big Ben).
Ryan will look revamped this season. Falcons had the least amount of talent last year.
Matt Ryan won’t know what to do with time to throw the ball. I don’t think he has had a offensive line like indy has for years or at all.
You guys know anything about roster building? The falcons were an absolutely terrible offensive team around Ryan and he still produced 7 wins. He’s going to be one of the better QBs in the afc.
I’m with you until that last part, but that’s in part because of the AFC arms race. All four AFC west QBs, three North QBs (pending suspension for one), and Allen seem more likely than not to be better than Ryan, plus one would hope either Lawrence or Wilson has a big leap in them soon.
Wilson came back too soon. He was pretty good after a couple weeks. Wilson will be far better than Ryan. I am not sure what kind of leap you want him to make.
We’re both talking about Zach, right? I want him to make a big leap. The guy took the third most sacks in football in only 13 games, and a whole lot of that is on him. He has to get the ball out a lot faster. Saying confidently that’s he’ll be far better than Ryan is irrational. He might be. I hope he is. But it’s certainly not the most probable outcome.
Bringing in Ryan isn’t going to make much of a difference, but at least the Colts can still feast on the Texans and Jags for a couple more years.
And Tennessee should be a tick worse now.