JANUARY 6: Ryan will interview Thursday or Friday of this week, per Pelissero’s colleague Ian Rapoport. A hire shortly thereafter would come as no surprise.
JANUARY 5: It was recently learned the Falcons have been in talks with Matt Ryan about a prominent front office role. A hire is not yet official, but further details have emerged regarding the expected reunion between the two. 
Atlanta is in the process of a notable restructuring. That will include a new head coach and general manager after last night’s firing of Raheem Morris and Terry Fontenot. Other moves have been made as well, though. Longtime CEO Rich McKay has continued expanding his role into other areas of the Arthur M. Blank Sports and Entertainment organization, and today marks a key point in a five-year succession plan for his replacement.
[RELATED: Ryan Aiming To Work For Both Falcons, CBS]
Greg Beadles has been promoted from president to president and CEO of the Falcons, Blank notes in an open letter to fans. This position primarily affects the business side of the operation, but Beadles will also play a role in implementing the wider restructuring process in the organization. That includes the pending hire of a president of football operations.
The Falcons will soon begin the interview process on that front. Before it begins, though, it is widely expected Ryan will be hired. As Tom Pelissero of NFL Network notes, the former MVP quarterback has already done “homework” on a number of head coach and general manager candidates. The process of finding replacements for Morris and Fontenot, to no surprise, will not begin until the president of football ops is officially in place.
Atlanta must comply with the Rooney Rule before making a hire on that front. Once that takes place, Pelissero cautions teams may be leery about allowing their executives to interview for the GM gig knowing that position will not be the highest ranking one in the front office. The list of targets from the Falcons’ perspective will thus be interesting to see over the coming weeks.
Ryan, 40, spent all but the final year of his playing career with Atlanta. Not long after a single campaign with the Colts, he retired and transitioned to broadcasting. Another notable career move now appears to be imminent, and it will send him to a familiar organization.
The Falcan’ts just never learn do they
Nope! I finally had enough of Arthur Blank a few years ago & became an Eagles fan, like a lot of my ‘Dawgs loving friends circle. No regrets & never leaving this franchise, which actually gets it!
Good for you. At some point you just got to let it go.
Win or lose, jumping from team to team should be embarrassing for you. You were obviously never a falcons fan to begin with. No one knows whether hiring Ryan to that position will be a success or a failure. We, as true fans, know that Ryan is really intelligent, and I for one am hopeful for a change from the top. An intelligent Pres. hires the right GM, and then those two will join together and choose the right coach. I have heard for years that the problem with the Falcons has always started at the top. Well, here it is. Let the fair weather folks move to their team that is on a streak of successful years. It will end and they (you) will just move on to the next team that looks successful at that time. If it’s the falcons, just move on. We don’t want you!!!
You only live once, may as well root for a good team.
It’s very rare when a former star becomes a stud GM, I hope Ryan the best but this doesn’t feel smart.
The younger generation,if it’s not doing well right now run away
I LOVE THIS!!!! Because it means I don’t have to watch him as broadcaster anymore.
Absolutely hated watching and listening to him. I hope he has a long run in Atlanta in that role so he stays off my television screen. I’ve been watching sports for 45 years and he’s easily the most annoying broadcaster I’ve ever seen.
More annoying than Bradshaw and Gronk?
Haha … thats a bold statement. Lots of competition, including Mike Tirico and Jason Garrett.
Mike Tirico? I’ll take him any day of the week over Collinsworth.
I guess this is quite the indictment of NBC…
Wow really doing a thorough search. A joke of an organization and owner
Ted Bundy eyes…
Wow! That’s sooo creepy. You nailed it.
Sanpaku eyes. Not good.
@Eagles254 I didn’t know there was a term for these eyes…I’ve always been repulsed by them instinctually. Apparently I’m not alone. But it’s also fascinating for some people they’re irresistible. All I know is Ryan has skeletons in his closet.
Edit – Not just the “3 whites” it’s with the deeply brown iris and disproportionate pupil. Matt Ryan is an extreme version of this. (I know bundy was blue but most of his pics are black and white giving it the brown appearance)
Going the Buster Posey route. Can’t hurt I guess; what they’ve been doing for the last decade in the weakest division in football hasn’t worked.
Hope he is a better president then football player
That’s a lot of presidents, managers, bosses, etc. running around. What could go wrong! lol….Side note, man there are a lot of Matt Ryan haters around. Didn’t realize he would garner this much negative reactions geez.
Yeah, a QB that ranks among the league’s all-time top 10 in pass attempts, pass completions, passing yards, and passing touchdowns sure does deserve this hate. I can’t wait to see the hate from these keyboard warriors when he makes the Hall of Fame
Great comment, but unfortunately, he wont make the HOF. If he does, it will be awhile.
He is getting all this hate from fair weather fans who are more concerned about how someone sounds as opposed to whether they have the football IQ to lead a team, with a lot of talent mind you, to future and sustained success.
These comments talking about his eyes and how he has “skeletons in his closet” are so funny and typical for the soap opera loving femme boys posting them.
No, it makes complete sense to disparage a man’s ability to work in a job because of a perceived physical characteristic he was born with and is acceptable to liken him, because of this characteristic, to one of the worst serial killers in our country’s history. Nothing arbitrary about that at all.
You guys do know that most serial killers are manufactured stories, right? Start digging into the details and they don’t add up. Just a way to gaslight the people and keep them paying taxes.
You might want to ditch this website and head over to reddit, spitballer.
I know that personally, despite there not being a credible serial killer publicized in decades, the thought of one helps to make sure……checks notes……that I pay my taxes. Huh?
😂😂😂😂😂
I wonder if Ryan will be back on the CBS studio show next Sunday?
Well, if the minority owner of the Raiders can cover games every week, it should be ok for the President of Football Operations for Atlanta Falcons to offer commentary every week too.
CBS Sports will tell Ryan “Falcons or us, not both”.
Fox cares more about brand names than about ethics.
Some owners are just morons
I’m rather surprised that Matt Ryan never appear in any Tom Clancy novels. Perhaps if he had played for Baltimore it would have been different 🙂
Is this a joke?