Fresh off signing the largest contract in NFL history last week, Falcons QB Matt Ryan is locked in on his goals for the 2018 season. The 10-year veteran has achieved all the individual accolades one could possibly aspire to in the game, and now he's chasing the greatest prize of them all; a Super Bowl. That goal was tantalisingly close in 2017, only for the Patriots to rip it away from them at the last second, and Ryan is more dedicated to the cause than ever going into his 11th season in the league.
The 32-year-old signed a mammoth five-year $150 million contract extension on Friday, making him the NFL's highest paid player in history. He's the first player to earn $30 million per year and receive $100 million in guaranteed money.
But don't think for one second he'll be resting on his laurels after getting paid. He's ready to earn every penny of his monster deal and he's actively chasing a championship - not just for himself - for the entire city of Atlanta.
“I’ve always felt like that your job as a player is to go earn every dollar,” Ryan said Monday, via D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Have that mindset that every day you wake up: It’s about working as hard as you possibly can. I guess it’s more incentive for me moving forward for me to play my best football as I continue to mature in this league.”
The soon the be 33-year-old has led Atlanta to six playoff berth's in his ten NFL seasons, including two NFC championship game appearances and that infamous Super Bowl loss to the Patriots.
He's been selected to the Pro Bowl four times and was the league MVP two seasons ago, but he's not satisfied with coming up short and wants to reward the wider community in his adopted home city for their warmth and loyalty by delivering that illusive championship sooner rather than later.
“(Winning a Super Bowl) is important to me,” Ryan said. “I feel like I’m a part of this community and have been embraced by the community.”
“I’m going to do everything that I can to try and help this city and this organization win a championship. That’s been my mindset since I was drafted here in 2008. I’ve been working hard at it for 10 years, and I’m going to continue to work at as long as I play here.”
After a troublesome regular season in 2017 under new OC Steve Sarkisian, the Falcons finally started to click towards the back end of the campaign and looked a real danger in the playoffs, narrowly losing out 15-10 to the Super Bowl champion Eagles in Philadelphia in the divisional round.
They could, and maybe should, have won that game and they'll be coming back with even more weapons and a greater sense of understanding and comfortability between 'Sark' and his offense in 2018.
Calvin Ridley's addition in the draft gives Ryan yet another playmaker on the perimeter and they should compete for the league's top offensive marks on the way to another postseason appearance.
The NFC is loaded though, and they'll face stiff in-division competition, so the task at hand is no easy matter. Regardless, Ryan and co will be mightily confident of making another deep playoff run, and this time this talented roster might just have the right blend of youth and experience to get over the line and deliver a first Super Bowl in franchise history to the city of Atlanta.