Ryan gives up some advice to Stafford
Matt Ryan pumping iron in the weight room. CURTIS COMPTON / CCOMPTON@AJC.COM
Flowery Branch – Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan and Georgia quarterback Matt Stafford are likely to be forever linked.
After Ryan’s spectacular rookie season, Stafford, who’s likely to be the top quarterback selected in the draft, will be expected to excel immediately, too.
Both are represented by super agents Ben Dogra and Tom Condon. At the NFL scouting combine, Stafford said he was impressed with Ryan’s work and will reach out to him.
Ryan will be ready to offer some advice when things slow down for Stafford, who went through a private workout for the Lions in Athens on Tuesday. Ryan, who was selected with the No. 3 pick overall last season, knows what Stafford and USC quarterback Mark Sanchez are going through.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford (7) will be pointing the way for a NFL team soon. Brant Sanderlin/ bsanderlin@ajc.com
“My advice to them would be to go in and work as hard as you possibly can,” Ryan said. “At times, you’re going to need to keep your mouth shut. Just keep your mouth shut, go out there and work hard and do everything you can to try and help your team win. If you focus on those things and leave some of the distractions that go with being drafted early and playing the position that you play, then you’ll be all right.”
Ryan doesn’t miss being under the NFL draft microscope.
“Things are starting to heat up,” Ryan said. “They have no idea where they are going to be. I’m sure, Matthew Stafford, at some point I’ll speak to him. Just with the relationship that I have with the agents, they represent me as well. But I wish both of those guys the best.”
Here’s Ryan on a few Falcons matters:
BIRDS NOT LAYING IN THE BUSHES: “We’re not going to sneak up on people. Anytime that you go 11-5 the NFL rewards you with a tougher schedule. So that makes things a little more difficult. With that said, teams are going to understand what we are capable of. But at the same time, we also know what we are capable of.”
OFFSEASON WORKOUTS: “I’ve been itching to get back here to start preparing for next season. I think that we did a lot of things really well last year, but losing in the playoffs serves as great motivation. I started to come back early and tried to get myself in shape before we got into the workouts. I wanted to watch a little bit of tape and start preparing for next year.”
OFFSEASON MOVES: (Five defensive starters left in free agency). “I think that they’ve done a good job. I think everybody has complete confidence in what Rich McKay, Thomas Dimitroff and the front office is going to do. We are comfortable with the moves they are going to make. We’re happy that we’ve kept a bunch of the guys that we have kept. We had Michael Jenkins deal done during the season. He’s a target that I like to throw to. He made a huge impact for our team last year. We got Babs (Jonathan Babineaux) back, which is huge and we picked up Michael Peterson in the offseason. He’s going to shore us up at linebacker.”
THROWING WITH THE WRs: “We’ve already started that. We’ve already started working on, getting out there and throwing a little bit. We are trying to do some different things. We want to get that rapport that we need to have during the season. We built a really good foundation during the season, we really did. But we need to get better. That’s got to be the emphasis this offseason.”
Ryan also pointed out that wide receiver Laurent Robinson is looking good and appears healthy.
Does Ryan have some sound advice for Stafford? How important is the offseason workouts? Do you think Ryan and his receivers can develop that type of chemistry that the Colts seem to have with Peyton Manning.?
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167 comments Add your comment
falcon21
April 2nd, 2009
8:08 pm
I am a huge UGA fan and wish Stafford the best. I for one think he has the talent and will be a very good NFL QB. It all depends on the system,coaching and franchise. Good luck Matt.
Nookah
April 2nd, 2009
8:54 pm
Report on Foxsports.com, ……Raji tested positive at combine, drug not identified.
Well, well, well, what will that do to the draft now or does anybody care? How will he be seen by other teams?
Will he fall to #24?
Go Falcons!!!
Nuff respect!!!
Bill
April 2nd, 2009
8:56 pm
Matt Ryan’s signature moment his senior year at BC was the Virginia Tech game in which he brought BC back from a 10-0 deficit in the last three minutes for a 14-10 win. He also threw the game-winning TD pass in the final two minutes of a win over Clemson, which gave the ACC Atlantic division title to BC.
D. Orlando Ledbetter
April 2nd, 2009
9:49 pm
What’s up with this y’all? Falcons would have to move up in the draft to get Rey Maualuga.
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/falcons/stories/2009/04/02/Falcons_linebacker_usc.html
USC linebacker to visit Falcons
By D. ORLANDO LEDBETTER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, April 02, 2009
University of Southern California linebacker Rey Maualuga, who is projected in some mock drafts as a top 10 pick, will visit the Falcons on Saturday, according to his agent Gary Uberstine.
The Falcons are in the process of revamping their linebacking corps after starters Michael Boley (New York Giants) and Keith Brooking (Dallas) signed with new teams during free agency. They signed linebacker Michael Peterson in free agency.
Falcons coach Mike Smith told the AJC at the NFL owners’ meeting in Dana Point, Calif. that he was impressed with all four of the USC linebackers in this draft.
falcon21
April 2nd, 2009
10:05 pm
I don’t see any way we could move from 24 to top 10 without giving up a whole bunch of something we don’t have. Maybe TD has a plan we don’t know about. Go figure. By the way DOL you are doing a great job. Keep it up. Great info and good blog.
D3
April 2nd, 2009
10:24 pm
What’s goin’ on Bird-Cage bloggers? Crazy deal with Cutler, huh. Man, I was shocked when I was listening to the radio and heard it was the Bears. I mean, they gave up a lot in 2 first round draft picks, but if they could develop or sign a receiver or 2, than they would be contender in the NFC, JMHO, with their DEF and Stud RB Matt Forte. McDaniels better hopes he wins, and quick, because its all on him. What an arrogant jack@ss to even consider trading your best player.
Falcon21 – agreed. After watching Stafford up close for 3 years, he has all the talent in the world, he just needs to get some more mental and emotional maturing. He definitely could have benefited from coming back for his senior year, but I think he has a chance to become a good NFL QB.
Ken Strick – what’s up coach? You’re exactly right on prognosticating if Stafford will be successful, truth is nobody knows. Its all about the situation. Matty Ice just came in with a perfect storm in the hiring of TD and Smitty.
Crabapple – couldn’t side with you more on McDaniels. The guy came in with that brazen, arrogant Belichick attitude and has totally screwed himself in my opinion. With Kyle Orton replacing Jay Cutler, no RB’s, and one of their best players, Brandon Marshall, out until July because of surgery, they could totally tank. Also, did you see how many free-agents they picked up? Like 15 or something crazy. Completely opposite of TD’s method of getting a couple of key guys, and building through the draft.
marko – whats the word? I’m glad you brought that up about Pettigrew. I was looking on AF.com, and noticed that Pettigrew is still the conscensus pick for the Falcons, but I don’t see it either with all our needs on DEF. And seeing how deep the TE’s are, it would be hard to imagine.
JG – I still have a hard time giving up on Matthews as well. The guy has an amazing work ethic and would set us at LB for years and years. As DOL said, Raji and Jerry were the only DT’s that graded out in first round. I’m doing a little research on the success rate 1st round draft picks of DT and OLB, just to see.
Stirg d'Nahsif
April 2nd, 2009
10:42 pm
D.O., I beg to differ. I’ve seen some mock boards lowering Rey M’uga, as low as to the second round. One mock, the National Football Post, even drafted him after Clay Matthews (not trying to belittle Junior’s
ability), barely making the top twenty. I don’t know what he did at USC’s pro-day but, for some reason, his stock has lowered.
Now that I mentioned it, I believe a number of players are going to fall. We can’t assume that a player’s descent in rankings is due to performance or other issues. I think rankings will change, as we get closer to the draft, because of player movement. Let’s take the Jay Cutler issue, for example. Chicago’s decision to grab the QB change the complexion of the draft, we all know that. We, however, can take advantage of that trade activity by noting the other teams involved. Washington, Detroit and Cleveland were all heavy hitters in the game to try and nab Cutler, which tells us that those teams will be shopping “center back” (gots to give a shout out to IE’66 – that means an acknowledgement) in the draft. That activity, I’m sure, will raise or lower a particular players rankings. The same scenario will apply to Mike Vick upon his reinstatement to the game, before the draft.
Another thing I noticed with mock draft boards. There sure is a lot of good players making it past the first round. I’ve noted names like Clint Sintim (round 3), Sean Smith (2), Louis Delmas (late2), Rashad Johnson (3). Tells me that either there are more decent players than we anticipate or we don’t know what the hell we’re doing.
Stirg d'Nahsif
April 2nd, 2009
10:46 pm
Not.
D3
April 2nd, 2009
10:46 pm
DOL – what’s goin’ on? You’ve kept us on our toes with your posts. I like your attempt to move us from the DEF side of the ball to OFF side this week, but its tough with this bunch. Rey Maualuga, don’t really get that since he’s an ILB and we already have Lofton. I do know he’s a nasty, aggressive football player which I would love to have, unless he could move to OLB. Most mocks I’ve seen have him going somewhere between 15 – 20, mostly to San Diego. Any preview of tomorrows Mock?
As I’ve said before, this is fairly inconclusive research concerning taking DT’s because it doesn’t include things like pressuring QB’s, closing running lanes, pushing the pile, and run support, but here it goes (1st and 2nd Round since 2004, 20th overall pick or lower):
Marcus Tubbs (#24 – 2004)
Tackles 60
Sacks 7.0
(averaged 7.5 tackles and about 1 sack a year)
Luis Castillo (#28 – 2005)
Tackles 158
Sacks 14.5
(averaged 39.5 tackles and about 4 sacks a year)
Mike Patterson (#31 – 2005)
Tackles 205
Sacks 9.5
(averaged 51 tackles and about 2 sacks a year)
John McCargo (#26 – 2006)
Tackles 35
Sacks 2.5
(averaged about 12 tackles and about 1 sack a year)
Justin Harrell (#16 – 2007)
Tackles 28
Sacks 0
(averaged 14 tackles a year)
Kentwan Balmer (#29 – 2008)
Tackles 7
Sacks 0
Igor Olshansky (Rd.2 – #35 – 2004)
Tackles 179
Sacks 11.0
Junior Siavii (Rd.2 – #36 – 2004)
Tackles 15
Sack 1.0
Tank Johnson (Rd.2 – #47 – 2004)
Tackles 96
Sacks 12
Dwan Edwards (Rd.2 – #51 – 2004)
Tackles 72
Sack 1
Shaun Cody (Rd.2 – #37 – 2005)
Tackles 91
Sacks 1.5
Jonathan Babineaux (Rd.2 – #59 – 2005)
Tackles 142
Sacks 8
Alan Branch (Rd.2 – #33 – 2007)
Tackles 15
Sacks 0
Trevor Laws (Rd.2 – #37 – 2008)
Tackles 12
Sacks 0
Jason Jones (Rd.2 – #54 – 2008)
Tackles 31
Sacks 5
I’m just throwing some devil’s advocate argument to spur the OLB v. DT comparison. A consensus has seemed to form around Hood or Brace as a lock @ #24, and the studs are there for the taking, but for every Castillo and Patterson there’s just as many average DT’s, like Tubbs & Harrell.
Ken Strickland
April 2nd, 2009
11:31 pm
SCOOTER-what’s up my friend. I’m excited about the new attitude of the current blogs as well.
I think we can forget about us drafting TE BPettigrew, since the Eagles pick ahead of us and they need a TE more than we do. I don’t know if we’ll benefit from the Cuttler trade to Chicago. Every mock draft I saw, except one, had them taking a DEF player, usually a DE. If Denver decides to take an OFF player with their pick, then we’ll benefit. Most mock drafts have Denver taking a DEF player with their 1st pick, so they might go OFF with Chicago’s #18 pick.
The Raji situation could hurt us only if we targeted a DT with our 1st pick. It could cause Raji to drop in the draft, which would benefit the team willing to take a chance on him. It would also cause the other DT’s to move up in the draft.
richbrave
April 2nd, 2009
11:35 pm
D. ORLANDO:
Did you ever cover MR. T when he was at UNION? I used to hang around the practice field in August and go to some home games when WILLARD BAILEY and JOE TAYLOR coached them. I was selling insurance back then and hatin’ life. VA. UNION was just down BROOK ROAD about ten blocks from my first house.
Matt the Brave
April 3rd, 2009
12:05 am
Whoever said that Stafford will be the next Elway is crazy. He’s the next Jeff George. HUGE arm, lots of potential, but never quite lived up to it because he would either 1) be behind a terrible line, or 2) wouldn’t check down his receivers. Stafford may live up to some expectations, but in all honesty, you look at Matt Ryan who started three of four years in college in a pro-style offense. He stayed to graduate and ended up looking like the next big thing in the NFL for years to come. Also, no embarrassing photos of him being overweight and power lifting a keg. See the difference?
Matt
April 3rd, 2009
12:10 am
Does anyone believe Jay Cutler at this point? He’s a little whiny for my tastes. To echo a poster from above, thank God we’ve got Matty Ice!
cutter
April 3rd, 2009
8:14 am
Nfldraftbible.com is reporting Cushing and Matthews both tested positive for steroids and Percy Harvin and Vontae Davis tested positive for Marijuana at the combine. WTF! Who’s next? We might trade down now if this is true.
falcondawg
April 3rd, 2009
9:54 am
good stuff! i hope the falcons take it to the other teams this year. Ryan’s got to be off to a incredible career. GO FALCONS
Tyger
April 3rd, 2009
1:55 pm
Richbrave were you around when JT and Kenny Jones tore the CIAA up, I believe Big Ben Wallace was hooping for Union about the same time.
Lauren Alvarez
July 4th, 2010
3:51 pm
I learned a few things…