{"id":674744,"date":"2026-01-13T19:40:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T19:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/674744\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T19:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T19:40:14","slug":"matt-ryan-is-seeking-to-handle-unfinished-business-in-his-new-role-as-falcons-president-of-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/674744\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt Ryan is seeking to handle unfinished business in his new role as Falcons president of football"},"content":{"rendered":"

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. \u2014 Matt Ryan said he is motivated to take care of unfinished business in his new role as the Atlanta Falcons president of football.<\/p>\n

Ryan was named the 2016 NFL MVP after leading the Falcons to the Super Bowl in the highlight of his 14 years as the team’s starting quarterback. Even so, the Falcons never won the championship and now Ryan has a new opportunity to help the team win its first title.<\/p>\n

Ryan’s first priority is leading the search for a new coach and general manager.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the Falcons fans, my mission since I was drafted has never changed,\u201d Ryan said Tuesday in his first news conference since being named president of football on Saturday. “It is to help this organization do everything it can to be champions and to win championships.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd there is a sense of unfinished business.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Falcons fired coach Raheem Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot after an 8-9 finish. Falcons owner Arthur Blank also made front office changes, including the creation of the president of football position.<\/p>\n

Ryan takes over the leadership of football operations from Greg Beadles, who remains president and CEO. The new coach and general manager will report to Ryan, who Blank said Tuesday is in charge of \u201ceverything between football and grass.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Former Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan speaks during a news conference as the new Atlanta Falcons president of football, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Flowery Branch, Ga. Credit: AP\/Brynn Anderson<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel he’s a perfect choice,\u201d said Blank of Ryan, adding he spoke with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell \u201cand made him aware we were chatting with Matt. And his response was that, you know, you\u2019re not going to find anybody better, smarter, more committed, a better human being, a better leader for the NFL and for your franchise.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Ryan is charged with setting the course for the team, he emphasized he won’t interfere with the traditional decisions handled by the coach and general manager.<\/p>\n

When asked when he first considered seeking a front-office position with an NFL team, Ryan said \u201cI didn’t\u201d during his three years an an NFL analyst for CBS.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really happy with what I was doing at that time with CBS and excited about that opportunity,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cAnd I want to make it clear. This is the only place I would do it, and I feel really connected to this organization and have my entire life or adult life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Former Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan speaks during a news conference as the new Atlanta Falcons president of football along with Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, left, and President and CEO of the Atlanta Falcons Greg Beadles, right, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Flowery Branch, Ga. Credit: AP\/Brynn Anderson<\/p>\n

Ryan worked on the CBS pregame show on Sunday and said he hoped at this time next year the crew is discussing the Falcons in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe there\u2019s a lot of young, talented players on the defensive side of the ball,\u201d Ryan said. “We\u2019ve got some offensive linemen who are really, really solid, some of which I played with, which is kind of crazy, but really cool. I think we\u2019ve got a special running back in Bijan (Robinson) and what he can do as a player. We\u2019ve got some talented pieces on the outside.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of good pieces that are here, but I also recognize it\u2019s hard. I mean, it\u2019s difficult to win in this league and it takes everyone, it takes everybody coming together and pulling their weight. And so I\u2019m excited about what\u2019s here. I think there are a lot of strong pieces, and certainly confident in the players that we have in our building.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan also said \u201cI love\u201d quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who is recovering from season-ending surgery on his left knee.<\/p>\n

The Falcons interviewed six head coach candidates in Ryan’s first three days, including former Baltimore coach John Harbaugh and former Miami coach Mike McDaniel on Monday. Beadles said the team has only interviewed coaches, not candidates to be GM, because \u201cthere are specific windows when we can talk to coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blank said he hoped the new coach and general manager can be hired at about the same time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important we land both these planes about at the same time, because there has to be collaboration between these two individuals,\u201d Blank said.<\/p>\n

Ryan’s wife, Sarah, and three sons \u2014 twins Marshall and Johnny and youngest son Cal \u2014 attended the news conference. The boys wore Ryan’s Falcons jerseys. When Cal grew restless during the hour-long news conference, Ryan noted his ability to continue answering questions proved he can multitask.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. \u2014 Matt Ryan said he is motivated to take care of unfinished business in his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[223,254,2554,224,7,6,2309],"class_list":{"0":"post-674744","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-falcons","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-falcons","10":"tag-atlantafalcons","11":"tag-falcons","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-wires-bot"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115889492958076958","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}