Matt Ryan Trade Idea for Falcons: A 1st-Round Pick from Browns?

The Browns may be "a quarterback away,'' but they'd have to be convinced that Ryan, playing at age 37, is a major upgrade from Mayfield.

As always, we're careful to frame this sort of thing properly: When someone says there is a "trade proposal'' that would send Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan to the Cleveland Browns, it can mean one of two things:

One, and this would be gigantic: One of the two teams has actually "proposed'' this, to the other.

Two, and this is what is happening here: A reporter has "proposed'' it. Which makes it a more modern (if less accurate) journalistic version of the word.

And that second one is what we have here, with Sheil Kapadia of The Athletic offering up some hot takes including the Browns trading for Ryan, with the Falcons getting a conditional first-round pick in exchange.

“The Falcons have one of the worst cap situations in the league,” Kapadia writes. “They are going to need to build methodically through the draft. Trading Ryan would free up roughly $8 million in cap space for 2022. ...''

Wait. Stop right there. It's true; dealing away Ryan would open $8 million of room. But that's now counting the $32 million of dead money that would remain on the 2022 cap. Nor does it take into consideration who'd play QB for Atlanta this year, and the cost of hiring that player.

Does such a trade make Cleveland better? Not exactly. First, Baker Mayfield is in Cleveland, and is scheduled to make $18 million in 2022. So the Browns are going to pay Mayfield and Ryan, have the two battle it out, leaving the loser to become one of the highest-paid players in NFL history who doesn't play?

This seems unlikely.

The Browns may be "a quarterback away,'' but they'd have to be convinced that Ryan, playing at age 37, is a major upgrade from Mayfield. Meanwhile, the Falcons would essentially be forfeiting the season, and would presumably draft a QB in 2022 and then deal with the growing pains while being bad for a couple more seasons.

Oh, and one more thing: As this concept would give Atlanta a conditional pick. The piece notes, "If a team offered ... a conditional second that could turn into a first, plus a third, would that be enough?'' That obviously means that the conditional pick is for 2023 - thus extending the wait on the Falcons being good again.

Maybe it's best to listen to owner Arthur Blank on the subject of Ryan's future.

Said Blank recently, via the team’s official website: "He loves the game. He loves the Falcons. He loves the city, and he wants to stay here. That’s a decision the coach and general manager will make. But we have no reason to think he won’t continue to be playing.''

Fantasy "proposals'' aside, for reasons of talent and finance, that is the most likely outcome. If the Falcons plan to be competitive in 2022, they'd better figure out how to do it with Matt Ryan.