Getty Left: Falcons QB Matt Ryan Right: Fox Sports analyst Colin Cowherd.
Atlanta Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot and head coach Arthur Smith are reportedly torn on who to draft at No. 4 overall at the end of the month.
Smith believes that veteran quarterback Matt Ryan has at least two years of juice left in him, while Fontenot wants to draft his future replacement, according to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen.
And the king of hot takes, Colin Cowherd, agrees with the coach over the GM.
His argument? “Matt Ryan is the only thing saving Atlanta,” Cowherd said.
He emphasized the fact that Ryan has only continued to develop over the last decade since being drafted in 2008.
This is the greatest take of Colin Cowherd’s entire life
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Cowherd Gives His Matt Ryan Case
It’s intriguing that Cowherd has been the one to come to the rescue and defend Atlanta for keeping Matt Ryan around because no too long ago, he was bashing him and comparing him to Andy Dalton.
“The guy that wants to get rid of Matt Ryan, let me ask you this…” Cowherd defended Ryan on his hight touted podcast The Herd. “I’m not even going to count Matt Ryan with Kyle Shanahan when he won the MVP. I’m not going to count that. For my argument, I should. I won’t, because nobody gets the number one offensive coordinator for most of their career.”
Cowherd went on to list Matt Ryan’s accomplishments over the last four seasons: a 96 passer rating, 66% completion percentage, 286 yards per game, 4th in the NFL, along with two and a half times the touchdowns as picks.
The longtime NFL analyst and radio personality also noted that Ryan did all of that while playing under two different offensive coordinators in Dirk Koetter and Steve Sarkisian, which means he had to learn multiple systems.
“Matt Ryan’s problem is, stylistically, he does not look like what we want our quarterbacks to look like,” Cowherd stated. “But the division Matt Ryan plays in, and this league is about winning your division first, has been dominated by pocket quarterbacks.”
Mobile QBs are becoming more and more demanding, but the NFL was built on pocket passers, which is ultimately why Trevor Lawrence and Mac Jones are two of the top signal-callers in this year’s draft.
The Falcons’ best asset is their pass attack and over the last four years, Ryan has led the league in attempts, completion, and passing yards.
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Cowherd Thinks It’s Best if Atlanta Trades Back
Cowherd ends his case with this:
“Do you believe if you’re the GM of Atlanta––if you draft Trey Lance––and that’s reportedly who they want and I think he’s talented––that Trey Lance in his entire career––for a four-year period––will lead the NFL on attempts, completions, and passing yards?
“Even if he’s good, that’s highly unlikely.”
But he doesn’t stop there. Cowherd believes the Falcons should move out of No. 4 overall.
“Sam Darnold got three [draft] picks, two great ones. Do you know what you can get for that fourth pick to move out? You could get multiple first rounders. Outside of one defensive tackle, you don’t have anybody on defense that anyone is afraid of,” Cowherd said.
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