It was anything but a normal Monday afternoon in March for the Falcons front office. Not only did the team trade away former MVP quarterback Matt Ryan to the Colts, Atlanta signed Marcus Mariota to a two-year deal.
While the trade is obviously a bit of a shock, it’s somewhat less surprising after the team’s aggressive pursuit of Deshaun Watson last week. Even though the Falcons didn’t end up landing Watson, it became apparent to both Ryan and the team that it was time to move on.
Shortly after the trade became official, Falcons owner Arthur Blank released a statement calling Ryan “the epitome of a franchise quarterback.”
