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The Matt Ryan experiment in Indianapolis seems to have run its course. He was traded from the Atlanta Falcons to make them playoff contenders. Instead, they are out of playoff contention going into the last two weeks of the season.
Ryan has seen out two coaches in the process and has been replaced by two different quarterbacks during the season. For both head coaches, Frank Reich and Jeff Saturday, taking the decision to bench him points to a problem that lies with Matt Ryan being unable to fit into the team. Sam Ehlinger and Nick Foles have now both relieved him of his starting positions at different times this season.
So there is a very good possibility that the Indianapolis Colts will have to move on from him. The decision might have been more straightforward had they not traded for him just last year and given him a contract that made him the franchise quarterback. They will lose money moving on from him.
Matt Ryan's contract terms with the Indianapolis Colts
Matt Ryan will become an unrestricted free agent after 2023, so what we are looking at is mainly next year. For next year, $12 million is guaranteed. On March 17, 2023, $7,205,882 of his salary also becomes guaranteed. On the same date, he has a $7.5 million roster bonus that becomes guaranteed. An additional $2.5 million is payable throughout the season.
As a result, if the Colts decide to part ways with Matt Ryan, the decision must be made before March 17, 2023. If they release him, the salary cap will be reduced by $18 million, but they will save $17,205,882 under the salary cap.
The other option is that they can trade him. Matt Ryan is still a former NFL MVP and there is no reason why he may not yet play better somewhere else other than Indianapolis.
The Colts have been purgatory for quarterbacks since losing Andrew Luck to a premature retirement and they may find a willing buyer elsewhere. If they can arrange a trade, then the veteran quarterback will cost only $6 million in dead cap hit and $29,205,882 in savings under the cap.
It is a sorry indictment of the season that both the quarterback and the team have had that after just one season after trading for him, they are talking of moving in different directions. What each saw as the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle for their ambitions has been a major mutual letdown.
