The Indianapolis Colts introduced quarterback Matt Ryan last week after trading a third-round pick to the Atlanta Falcons in exchange for the veteran.
While attending the NFL owners’ meetings in Palm Beach, Colts general manager Chris Ballard and head coach Frank Reich were a bit more candid when talking about how the deal for Ryan came to fruition.
At first, they were staring a mediocre quarterback market in the face before Ryan became available. Then upon meeting with him over Zoom, the organization’s brass immediately felt it was the right move.
“An instant connection,” said Reich via Zak Keefer of The Athletic. “He’s his own guy. He’s not like anybody else. … I felt a little bit of Peyton and a little bit of Philip. But he’s Matt Ryan. You could just feel his presence.”
Before meeting with Ryan over Zoom and essentially being sold right then and there, Reich put on the tape from the last three seasons. Looking to see if there were any diminishing traits that could be a concern, Reich came away with the notion that Ryan still has it.
“I didn’t see any diminishing skills,” Reich said.
The Colts know they got pretty lucky when it came to the Ryan trade. According to Keefer, the team never truly considered the trade options like Jimmy Garoppolo or Baker Mayfield. They never made an offer for either, according to his report.
The interest in free agents Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston was real and that’s likely the path they were heading had it not been for Ryan becoming available.
“Damn right we did,” said Ballard of getting lucky Ryan was available. “To sit here and say we just had a flat-out plan that the QB (position) was going to work out, we didn’t.”
The Colts still need to add talent around Ryan. What they currently have isn’t going to be good enough to keep up with some of these powerhouses in the AFC.
But getting their quarterback in place was the first domino that needed to fall in order for the rest of the offensive moves to take place.
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