Matt Ryan football is already paying off for the Atlanta Falcons. The 41-year-old is in place as president of football, and the early returns are showing up in the daily work around the front office and practice field.
Matt Ryan and Ian Cunningham
The Falcons brought Ryan on in an oversight role, but Ian Cunningham is the one calling the shots in the revamped front office. Ryan still reports to Arthur Blank, and the setup gives the team a former NFL MVP and quarterback with 15 years of high-level NFL experience inside the football operation without making him the final decision-maker.
That split matters because it shows how the organization is using Ryan. He is not there as a ceremonial nameplate. He is there to support the football side while Cunningham handles the main authority in the structure.
Jeff Scott on Practice Help
Jeff Scott said Ryan is active in the smallest details of the team’s work. “Matt, when he said he's here to support in any way, he really is,” Scott said. “I mean, you guys see out of practice, he'll help with kind of anything.”
Scott added another layer to that role. “I know he's done like some scout team, helping with the defense,” he said. That kind of work is the clearest early sign that the Falcons are getting more than a title from the hire.
Arthur Blank’s Oversight
Ryan’s assignment is unusual because the Falcons chose a former player rather than a traditional front-office executive, and the hire was criticized at first. The early evidence now points the other way: Ryan is helping wherever the staff needs him, and he is doing it in a structure that still leaves final control with Cunningham and Blank.
For the Falcons, the immediate return is practical. They added a franchise figure who can work across the operation, and the first proof is showing up in practice habits, scout work on defense, and the day-to-day support Scott described.
