The Atlanta Falcons were in the running for former Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson. The NFC South club was going to give the three-time Pro Bowler and Gainesville High School product the weekend to think over returning to Atlanta to continue his NFL career.
Allowing Watson to have the weekend meant the Falcons had to find a way to push back starting quarterback Matt Ryan’s roster bonus from March 18 to March 22. In doing so, it also gave the Falcons an opportunity to find a trade partner for Ryan.
Although Watson ending up going to the Cleveland Browns, the Falcons appear to have moved on from Ryan nevertheless and strengthened one of the Texans’ rivals in the process.
According to Tom Pelissero from the NFL Network, the Indianapolis Colts are trading a 2022 third-round pick to the Falcons for Ryan. For the third straight season, Indianapolis has a proven commodity under center.
The Colts were poised to go with younger signal callers in Jacob Eason and Sam Ehlinger, which would bring the offense down a notch as coach Frank Reich would have to evaluate a quarterback battle throughout offseason workouts and training camp. Adding Ryan allows the Colts to settle that roster problem and improve upon their 9-8 record from a year ago.
Indianapolis would have still had the same handicap at quarterback had Watson not entertained the notion of going to Atlanta. With the former 2017 first-round pick talking with Atlanta, and the Falcons believing they had a legitimate shot at Watson, it caused Atlanta to look at moving on from Ryan — kind of like how the Browns’ exploration of acquiring Watson led incumbent starting quarterback Baker Mayfield to take the hint that the franchise wanted to move on from him.
The Falcons pick No. 8 overall in the 2022 NFL draft, and quarterback figures to be one of their top needs.