Plenty of veteran quarterbacks figure to be on the move in the 2021 offseason, especially now that two big names -- Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff -- are already set to trade teams once the new league year officially begins. But don't count on Matt Ryan joining the carousel. According to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, the 35-year-old Falcons quarterback has not been shopped ahead of free agency despite Atlanta entering a rebuild under a new regime, and all indications are that he'll return for a 14th season in 2021.
"Matt Ryan is not going anywhere," Pelissero reported Tuesday. "The Falcons have not had any trade conversations with any other team about Ryan or their star wide receiver Julio Jones, and every expectation is both players are going to be on the roster in 2021."
One of the reasons for this, Pelissero explained, is the addition of former Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith as the team's new head coach. Smith is expected to run a variation of the offense that Ryan played within during his 2016 MVP season. Not only that, Pelissero added, but the financial ramifications of moving either Ryan or Jones, who was speculated as a potential trade-deadline target during the 2020 season, are also rather steep.
Ryan, who signed a five-year, $150 million contract extension with the Falcons in 2018, is locked into Atlanta through 2023. Trading him this offseason, per Over The Cap, would result in a $3.5 million loss in 2021. Jones, meanwhile, cannot be cut or traded without costing the Falcons additional money as well; trading him before June 1 this offseason would result in a $200K loss.
