Falcons rolled over in Ryan deal

by John Czarnecki

It needs to be said. The Atlanta Falcons screwed the pooch. The NFL owners have been crying woe is us in respect to their salary-cap deal with their players and then Atlanta owner Arthur Blank, via the negotiating wisdom of Rich McKay, simply gave Matt Ryan, the third pick in this year's draft, an eight percent raise over what last year's No. 1 pick, JaMarcus Russell, received. And the overweight LSU quarterback had to hold out all of training camp to collect his rich deal.

They gave money away.

I can remember hearing on the Friday prior to the draft, via the Falcons, that Ryan's agent, Tom Condon, had agreed to parameters closer to the Russell deal and to guaranteed money within range of what No. 1 pick Jake Long received from the Dolphins. I laughed when I was told there was this financial understanding with Ryan's people; no way would Condon agree to such terms.

Instead, Condon shot the moon and Blank blinked, and now Atlanta is the laughingstock of the league. Of course, the other 31 teams aren't really laughing; they'd like to put Blank in a cage with Chuck Liddell and knock some financial sense into him.

On the home front, Blank perceived that he was some kind of hero for getting the new face of the franchise signed. We all remember Michael Vick and the dogfighting damage he has done to Blank's franchise.

Regardless, what the Falcons did still doesn't make sense. It was foolish. They had no deadline, like Blank has said. They ruined the whole so-called slotting system that the top ten picks deal with every year.

In fact, why wasn't GM Tom Dimitroff consulted? Dimitroff could have told Blank that Ryan wasn't the kind of young man to hold out like Russell did. That he had no stomach for it. And if Ryan proved to be more about salary greed than being a quarterback leader, the Falcons still had all of June and most of July to test the kid's character while negotiating a long-term contract.

Atlanta didn't negotiate. They simply rolled over and raised a white flag. Also, there is no precedent for giving the third overall pick, even if he's billed as a franchise quarterback, more money than the previous year's No. 1 pick.

Just two years ago, Texas hero Vince Young was the first quarterback selected and also in the third overall pick behind Mario Williams and Reggie Bush. Young's representatives tried, but failed with the Tennessee Titans to receive more guaranteed money than Williams and Bush. In fact, Ryan's overall contract is a whopping 25 percent more than Young's and that in itself is ludicrous.

Can I say it again? The Falcons gave money away.

Granted, this is great for Ryan and Condon. But for an untested rookie to be making more than Tom Brady, well, it simply doesn't make sense, proving once again how flawed the NFL payroll system really is.

In his public remarks last week, commissioner Roger Goodell pointed out Atlanta's inability via a courtroom defeat to get the incarcerated Vick to repay $20 million in roster bonuses as one example why the current collective bargaining agreement needs to be fixed. Interpretation: better financial terms for the owners.

The Ryan contract contradicts this theory and exposes the owners, showing everyone that one club will do what's best for their franchise while ignoring the greater good of the league. Gene Upshaw and his union buddies had to be chortling over this. All they have been hearing for months is how the owners want to roll-back salaries and possibly institute a rookie wage scale.

Blank proved to them that individual teams will break from the pack and screw up this united front. Ryan's contract also gives Upshaw and the players hope that some owners might actually go on a nutty shopping spree in 2010 when there is the possibility of no salary cap.

Speaking of Vince

People often say some inexplicable things like Vince Young recently did, saying he thought about retiring after his rookie season, one that culminated with him being named rookie of the year in the NFL.

Young said family issues contributed to the strain of being a NFL quarterback. He said playing quarterback wasn't fun anymore and that "all the excitement was gone." This kind of talk has to worry Titans coach Jeff Fisher. Without question, the NFL microscope is greater on every starting quarterback. It takes a strong-willed, tough-skinned man to deal with the weekly pressures. More is asked of a quarterback and that's why they are paid quite a bit more than your typical player.

Maybe Young was experiencing the after-shock of being hero-worshipped for his leadership and dynamic play while leading Texas to an unbeaten season and a national championship victory over USC in the Rose Bowl. The Trojans never stopped him whereas the Jacksonville Jaguars did that year.

Obviously, there are a lot of responsibilities to being a professional. To be a great NFL quarterback, one must put in a lot of long hours of practice and film work. No one can tell me that success isn't fun, either. Just remember the faces of Brady, Manning and Favre when they won a championship. Young has to come to grips with the fact that talent alone doesn't win championships. If that was the case, Jeff George would have won quite a few.

Is he working w/ the 34.5 mil gauranteed or the 20 something? There's also no mention of the 6th year.

I criticized this deal the moment it came out, but it's no so odd once you adjust the numbers and factor in the deadline on the 6th year.

Exactly. They compare apples and oranges and then say we got screwed for not getting apples.

Iowa posted the writeup on the salary adjustment here.

Pass that along to Czar, I read it and based my post on it =)

That's why I read very little of his crap..... A waste of time with little accurate info...