The Atlanta Falcons had it good at the quarterback position for a long time with Matt Ryan.
And the irony now, as the Falcons go through some QB chaos, is that Ryan is still there, sort of. He’s now the President of Football for the Falcons, leading the front office.
His proximity has had some Falcons fans on social media in recent days wishing that Ryan would return to the field and play.
While that seems unlikely, it also serves as a bit of a reminder how things have changed.
The Ryan era was a great time to be a Falcons fan, with excellent passing attacks pretty much every year.
Things feel very different now, particularly at the start of a season where injuries and uncertainty already surround the likes of Cooper Rush, Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix Jr.
When you look at all the recent starters as a whole, too, it hasn’t been particularly pretty.
Falcons’ Starting QBs Since Matt Ryan
While it may feel like more, the Falcons have had six quarterbacks start at least one game since Ryan last played.
Ryan went 7-10 in starting every game in the 2021 season, his last year in the NFL.
In 2022, Marcus Mariota started 13 games for the Falcons and went 5-8.
That same year, Desmond Ridder made four starts and went 2-2. Ridder then started 13 games in 2023 with a 6-7 record.
The 2023 season also included four starts from Taylor Heinicke, with a 1-3 record.
In 2024, it was Kirk Cousins for 14 starts and a 7-7 record. Michael Penix Jr. closed it out with a 1-2 mark.
It flipped in 2025. Penix went 3-6 as the starter, then Cousins closed with the only winning record of this stint, a 5-3 mark in games he started in 2025.
The 2026 opener featured Rush starting and losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Falcons could add to this list at some point this season if they start either Tagovailoa or undrafted rookie Jack Strand.
Kevin Stefanski Irony
Adding to the irony of the situation is that new Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski comes from the place that is basically the championship-level of quarterback carousels: the Cleveland Browns.
The Browns returned to Cleveland in 1999 and have started more than 40 quarterbacks since then. Stefanski was let go in part because he wasn’t able to save a QB nightmare that was pretty much fully out of his control.
Stefanski certainly knows how to deal with a quarterback mess, but it probably isn’t his favorite thing that he’s already found a new one so quickly.
Ryan, too, can’t love this. He was a consistent feature for the Falcons for so long, and since he retired, it just hasn’t been the same.
List of Falcons QBs Since Matt Ryan Keeps Growing