Raiders, Derek Carr Drama Should Make Falcons Grateful for Matt Ryan
In the moment, it was merely a footnote amidst a wealth of crazy - but looking back, it's a graceful act and glowing representation of quarterback Matt Ryan's character.
"It," of course, is Ryan taking a backseat while the team he'd poured his heart into for 14 years - the Atlanta Falcons - decided to pursue another option under center in the Houston Texans' Deshaun Watson, now with the Cleveland Browns.
Beyond avoiding controversy, Ryan made the lives of Falcons coach Arthur Smith and general manager Terry Fontenot considerably easier, agreeing to push back the date of his $7.5 million roster bonus to give Atlanta's brass more time to wait for Watson's decision.
There wasn't much of a catch - Ryan was simply hoping that the Falcons would send him to a team with playoff aspirations, and they did exactly that, as he wound up with the Indianapolis Colts.
Ultimately, Atlanta didn't acquire Watson and Indianapolis had a severely disappointing season, but it was clear that both parties - Ryan and the Falcons - left on good terms.
And as it turns out, that's far from a given.
Nearly 2,000 miles away from Atlanta stands a developing situation between Las Vegas Raiders and quarterback Derek Carr.
After nine years together, Carr is set to depart Las Vegas in the coming days after being benched prior to the final two games of the season.
Carr, who expressed interest in being a Raider for life, has since made life difficult on the organization; he's due a $40 million roster bonus on Feb. 15 and refused to extend it, and now claims that he won't accept a trade, forcing Las Vegas to release him.
As a result, the Raiders won't be getting any capital in return and the two sides are as far away from helping one another as can be - which is a far cry from how the Falcons and Ryan ended their time together.
The situations are eerily similar; both the Falcons and Raiders finished up their first season with a new coach and general manager and opted to move on at quarterback, and both signal callers were due big money.
The two sides differ in that Ryan was never benched, but Atlanta's mid-March decision to chase Watson seemed to catch the former league MVP by surprise.
Yet, when given a chance to respond irrationally and do no favors to the organization that gave him a shot out of college and watched him grow into the face of the franchise, Ryan did the opposite - unlike Carr.
And that, simply, is worthy of respect and admiration towards Ryan, even if it's 11 months or 15 years delayed for some.
You can follow Daniel Flick on Twitter @DFlickDraft
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