Matt Ryan

Matt Ryan's the grizzled vet with 62,792 yards and 381 TDs over 15 years, including that MVP tear in 2016 and a Super Bowl ring—legacy locked in Falcons lore—while Penix Jr.'s the shiny new arm gunning for starter snaps in Atlanta, still sketching his story amid the rebuild. Ryan's the finished novel; Penix is the intriguing first chapter begging for plot twists.

Nope, Matty Ice isn't in Canton yet, and at 40 with his Falcons-Colts ledger—120-102 record, four Pro Bowls—he's got the volume but needs voters to warm up to a guy who peaked hard in '16 then faded like a late-game lead. Ring helps, but QB immortality's a brutal bar; he's monitoring camp from the outside looking in.

Fresh off the broadcast booth, Ryan just got named president of football operations for the Falcons in January 2026, ditching analyst gigs to steer the ship from the front office—think Arthur Blank handing the keys to his pocket-picking maestro turned exec whisperer. No more play-calling, just power moves.

Plug Ryan's quick-release precision and 381-TD arm into 2026's pass-happy paradise—zero-blitz bans, DPI flags on sneezes—and he'd feast like prime Brees in a dome, torching zones with Julio echoes while scheming protections like a vet chess master. Deep ball dips late-career? Modern rules forgive it; he'd post 4,500-yard seasons easy.

Ryan's steady 42.23% win rate as Falcons QB towers over Vick's electric but erratic 33.1%, like comparing a metronome to a Ferrari on ice—Matty Ice diced defenses for 59K+ Atlanta yards, franchise records galore, while Vick's scrambler magic lit up highlights but left too many craters. Volume king vs. viral wizard.