Matt Ryan leaves the door wide open on NFL comeback

Matt Ryan, the recently retired former MVP, was quick to hint that he may return to the NFL at some point in the future. 

Matt Ryan spent 14 productive years with the Atlanta Falcons before ending his career on a sour note with one miserable, very bad, no-good year with the Indianapolis Colts last season. Now, the 38 year old is on to new things.

He recently signed a deal to join CBS on their NFL broadcast crew. He’s not the first former player to make the transition to TV and he certainly won’t be the last. With so much industry knowledge, one has to imagine Ryan can bring a lot to the analysis game. Tony Romo made the transition from QB to broadcaster not long ago and he’s already famous for predicting plays before they happen.

Ryan, however, isn’t completely closing the door on his NFL career.

Matt Ryan says NFL return is unlikely but not impossible

“I don’t know. This situation, all the stars would have to [align]. I’ve just learned, at least during my experience in the 15 years I’ve played, to just not shut any doors. That’s really the decision behind that… I’m excited to kind of take this next step and to move forward, but at the same time, you never know what’s going to happen in this league. Anything could shake out, and so we’ll see what happens.” — Matt Ryan via Sirius XM Radio (h/t NFL.com)

Ryan is the kind of grizzled veteran a team turns to in their most desperate hour of need: perhaps a contender with an injured quarterback and no experienced alternative could call up the 2016 MVP.

There is no doubting Ryan’s football mind and his prolific résumé, but there’s a reason he’s not wearing a Colts uniform this season and Indianapolis is spending its first-round pick on a QB. Ryan did not have enough power behind his throws last year. He has been one of the steadiest hands in the NFL for over a decade, but age has sapped away too much of Ryan’s athleticism at this point. He could be a reasonable break-in-case-of-emergency option, but beyond that, it would be hard to justify burning a roster spot.

A young team with a young quarterback could, in theory, desire Ryan for a mentorship role. However, any such scenario likely would have played out already. If Ryan is making the leap to television, it’s either because no teams reached out or because no teams he was interested in joining reached out.