00:00We've talked a lot on this show about the dynamic of Matt Ryan moving from being Kyle Pitts's
00:05teammate to president of football and Kyle Pitts talked about what Matt Ryan means to him. I think
00:11it helps tremendously with a guy like Matt in the building around and just him being in the meetings
00:18and just on the field and practice it's been great knowing him and he's the exact same just
00:24in the office now. He's still getting on me about small details. He's giving different small
00:30tidbits on how I can be a better leader and professional as he did my rookie year. It's
00:36great having him back and I appreciate it. I don't think there's any doubt here that having
00:44Matt back would be good for the players in that building and especially ones that he has
00:50a connection with, which there are very few anymore that are left. Lindstrom and Jake
00:57and Kyle and AJ. That's pretty much it. That's pretty much the list of guys he has a connection
01:08with. He and Kyle did that rookie year was special for Kyle and Matt was a big part of
01:15that. How they, you know, some of the things he was forced into doing that year was also
01:20a big part of that. Me and Dallon and Dylan and I talked about that earlier about the way
01:26he was used. I felt like in 21 was a lot more like he was used at times at Florida,
01:31but it
01:32was out of necessity and then they tried to grow him. But I really love the fact that he,
01:37that you see direct effect of Matt Ryan already being here. And look, people can get mad all
01:43they want about all you guys do is ooze over Matt Ryan when you talk about him and, and
01:48his, uh, him being here and what he's bringing. Well, it's because you're seeing direct effect
01:54and you're hearing guys talk directly about what they see. There is, um, I was watching
02:01something this morning, Falcons content, um, which, you know, I think it was off their website
02:06or whatever. And the quarterback Penix was doing a drill and you literally can see Matt
02:14Ryan doing the drill too. Standing there in street clothes. And it's because, you know,
02:20he's out there, he's, he's watching. That's not like he's trying, he's not stop. He's not
02:24taking reps away or anything like that, but he's just kind of, you know, mimicking it with
02:28himself. And look, that's such a great asset to have a future hall of famer out there helping
02:35if needed. And it's not like he's coaching, but these guys can go to him when needed.
02:41And another thing on top of that too, it also, I have to imagine it gains the respect of these
02:48players who already have tremendous respect, I'm sure for Matt Ryan, but to see him out
02:52there knowing that, man, this dude is still in the trenches with us, even though, you know,
02:57he's the president of football now, like he's still not too big to be out here on the field
03:01going through drills with us. So that, I mean, that has to even enhance the, the amount of
03:05respect that those guys already have for him out there to see him still being in the trenches with
03:09the guys. So again, it just, like Bo said, anybody that is like, Oh, you, all you guys do is
03:14glaze
03:15Matt Ryan. Well, it's because he deserves it. He deserves the glaze. But I think Mike brought this
03:21up last week that as long as this contract works out with Kyle Pitts has a wonderful season,
03:27Matt Ryan is going to get all the glaze that he deserves. Dylan. There you go, Allie. If he
03:32doesn't though, it's going to be like, Matt Ryan had a hand in this shouldn't have done that. So
03:37he's got a lot on the line. Yeah. I also, I, real quick. I just can't say that they're, you
03:42know,
03:43glaze we're glazing him. I'm sorry. It just doesn't work for me, but yeah, no, you're absolutely,
03:48it's a great point. Um, you're either the, uh, the smartest guy in the room, the village
03:53idiot. Yeah. And that's what kind of comes with that, those decisions. And it, it's, um,
04:01it's not easy. And, and, but, but look, when you have relationships, it's why when guys are
04:07hired, they bring in guys, they either know and have relationships with or know people that
04:16speak highly of them and recommend them because you're now putting your, you're putting your
04:22professional career in the hands of others. And that's what Matt can, he can, uh, walk away
04:32from this and still be, still have generational wealth, still be a hall of fame player. He would
04:39just fail on the other side. He was kind of like the Matt Millen thing. Like Matt Millen back in
04:43the
04:43day was a pretty good announcer, obviously a very good player in his career. And then he goes and
04:51runs the lines and it was a debacle kept drafting wide receivers. And, and then it was like every
04:57then, then when John Lynch got hired, they're like, Oh, look, he's the next Matt Millen because he's
05:02just going to go up there and felt with John Lynch. Hasn't failed. So it's one of those deals where
05:07you, you carry that mantle of being a failure and it's hard for these guys. But also I was,
05:12I was listening to Arch, uh, talk about the Falcons content and he was like, he told a Joe Montana
05:18story and that was really interesting. And then he said, but one of the most competitive guys I've
05:24ever been around sits upstairs. And he was talking about Matt Ryan. And so you think that Matt Ryan
05:30is going to make decisions that he thinks going to fail? No, he's absolutely going to go in and do
05:35everything he can to win. And Matt is, you know, up at the facility at flowery branch
05:41with a new regime, right? Kevin Stefanski is new in Cunningham is new. And Kyle talked about
05:47what this contract extension means to him, knowing that these new guys made this commitment to him.
05:54Great. But the first thing for me is just my expression of gratitude for this, uh, organization
05:58with Matt, um, with Ian and with of course, the fans skin and the whole front office to be able
06:04to do that. And, uh, it's just, it's a, it's always good to know when people, people like
06:09you and for, for them to invest in trust that, um, I have a lot more to go. It's pretty
06:16cool
06:16to see and feel. Oh, but I was, I think that hearing Kyle Pitts say that just ultimately shows
06:29that having the support of this new regime, it almost feels like he was like, Oh, Oh, Oh, wow.
06:38Like the, they, they do believe in me and they, you know, because we all expected me for sure to
06:46let the, I expected this new regime to allow Kyle to play at least play this year out on the
06:52franchise tag and then revisit it after this year. And then be like, okay, well, this is how you
06:58performed over us. And you know, whether, whatever he did is, you know, how they will move forward.
07:02But the fact that they went ahead and gave him this deal beforehand, I mean, truly shows the faith
07:08that obviously Matt Ryan has, we talked about Kevin Coger and then, you know, Ian Cunningham and Kevin
07:13Stefanski obviously have seen enough and, you know, have heard enough good
07:15things about him too, to where they're ready to take that chance on him. So I can't imagine how
07:20good that must feel for Kyle Pitts to know, like, yeah, even though these guys haven't coached me and
07:26necessarily had been with me that long, as far as being my head coach and GM, they still have all
07:31this belief in me. But confidence is a tricky thing. And, uh, you can have all the confidence in
07:36the world, but when you go through hardships, it tests that. And you, especially for a player,
07:44it's impossible today in today's world to ignore outside noise. It's just, it is because if you do
07:51your best to cut yourself off from hearing it, that doesn't mean people around you don't hear it.
07:56And then, then it's just, it's utterly impossible. These guys hear it. So if they hear the negativity
08:03that whether you like it or not, especially when you're 21, 22, 23 years old, it can, can affect
08:11you. He's gained confidence. He's, he's confident in his relationship. We've talked about with Kevin
08:16Coger. He obviously had a, you know, that moment last late in last season where it kind of hit him,
08:24but then to be put on the franchise tag tells you, Hey, we, we believe you might be somebody,
08:32but we don't believe you're somebody yet. And that irritates a lot of players. Some players don't
08:39take it as a challenge. Kyle seemed to, well, he's talked and it seemed to be that he started grinding
08:45in the off season workouts and in mini camp to, to the, to the point where he took that as
08:52like,
08:53Hey, that's confidence. I got another opportunity, but now it's a little bit freeing because you don't
08:58have to worry about all or nothing on one year. You can go out there and play with the confidence
09:03that you believe in you and they believe in you. And it sometimes can set you up to have the
09:07most
09:07success. So given that confidence, given this contract extension, Kyle Pitts is free to play a
09:13little bit more loose. He knows he's here. We're not here Friday. So I'm going to give you a fair
09:17or foul because we're not going to get to do it this week. Fair or foul. Kyle Pitts has not
09:21played
09:21his best football yet. I think it's fair to say, I hope it's fair. Well, I'll put it that way.
09:27I hope it's fair to me. Um, his best football is two to three, at least two to two to
09:36the two years of
09:37guarantee money on this contract was this year, next year of what we saw last year. Like I don't
09:43need 90 catches and a thousand yards from the guy. I'll take, I'll take 68 for seven 50 and eight
09:52or nine touchdowns that those are phenomenal numbers. Don't forget. We talked about the Johnny.
09:59Mike and I talked about this Friday. We talked about the John and how his numbers receiving should
10:03go down based on the other things. If you're healthy based with Drake, Bajon, Zachariah Branch,
10:13Olamide, to pay as much attention to him as they should. And so this year, if, if he can be
10:20the red
10:21zone threat and really make defenses have to worry about him to the level that they should, that's all
10:28I hope for. And then I think the numbers will, will come with that. We'll, we'll see the touchdowns.
10:32We'll see the receptions, all that'll fall into place. Uh, but really to me, it's about being
10:37that threat and, you know, not the, I'm not going to use the unicorn word, but just being that guy
10:43that we've expected him to be, you know, when he first came in the league, it is TBD at this
10:46point,
10:47but I want it to be fair. We all want it to be fair.
Comments