Ryan must prove he’s worth the money

By Terence Moore | Wednesday, May 21, 2008, 10:19 AM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

First of all, the Falcons blew it, but not about making Matt Ryan an extremely rich young man on Tuesday before his first breath in an NFL game.

The Falcons blew it, because Ryan was the wrong pick at No. 3 overall in last month’s draft. When your situation at defensive tackle is as dreadful as the Falcons, and you have a chance to take the next Warren Sapp, you take him. Instead, the Falcons ignored Glenn Dorsey and grabbed Ryan, the quarterback with the fancy numbers at Boston College.

A lot of quarterbacks with fancy numbers in college have bombed as first-round draft picks. In recent years, MOST quarterbacks with fancy numbers in college have bombed as first-round draft picks.

It’s a wrap, though. The Falcons believe Ryan is the player who can move them from the Michael Vick mess to prominence on and off the field. Since that’s what the Falcons believe, they did the right thing by wasting no time in giving Ryan that six-year deal for $72 million and a guaranteed signing bonus of $34.75.

Essentially, the Falcons are saying that they want Ryan to start right now, and that they believe he can start right now. Since that’s what the Falcons believe, they had to sign the guy right now to get him acclimated to their offensive system way before training camp.

As for Ryan’s mighty payday from the Falcons, this is a free-market system that operates on the principle of supply and demand. If that’s what the Falcons believe Ryan is worth to them, then that’s exactly what he should get.

All Ryan has to do now is prove to the Falcons that they are justified in their various beliefs.

That’s the problem.