Matt Ryan

Matthew Thomas Ryan (born May 17, 1985) is an American football quarterback who is a free agent.

Nicknamed "Matty Ice", Ryan spent his first 14 seasons with the Atlanta Falcons and holds the franchise records for passing yards, passing touchdowns, attempts, completions, passer rating, and wins.

He played college football for the Boston College Eagles, winning the Manning and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Awards as a senior.

A three-time All-League selection, he threw for more than 2000 yards with 19 touchdowns as a senior, finishing his career by completing more than 52 percent of his pass attempts during all three seasons at the helm.

Ryan played football, basketball and baseball while in high school and was named captain of all three teams his senior year.

He captured All-Southeastern Pennsylvania accolades as a senior quarterback in addition to receiving All-City first-team honors in 2002 and second-team recognition in 2001.

He was quarterback of the football team in 2002, played small forward on the basketball team, and was a pitcher and shortstop on the baseball team.

Ryan says he was "mildly" recruited and began receiving scholarship offers as a sophomore.

Some of the schools that offered him an athletic scholarship were Purdue, Georgia Tech, Temple, and Connecticut.

After visiting Boston College during his junior year, he gave them his verbal commitment on August 14, 2002.

His choices had come down to Iowa or Boston College.

Ryan was looking for a university close to home and one that had a strong and competitive football program with a major emphasis on academics.

Ryan began attending Boston College in 2003 and redshirted his first year with the team.

Before the 2004 season, he was named the starting quarterback for Boston College due to an injury to Quinton Porter.

He made his collegiate debut on October 2, 2004, against the UMass Minutemen and completed two of three passes for 16 yards in the 29–7 victory.

He would not complete his first touchdown until November 20, 2004, against Temple, after throwing a 32-yard touchdown pass to Larry Lester.

Replacing the injured Paul Peterson, he completed 9-of-15 passes for 121 yards in the 34–17 victory.

He made his first collegiate start on November 27, 2004, in the final game of that season, completing 24 of 51 passes for 200 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions in a 43–17 loss against Syracuse.

He also played against North Carolina in the Continental Tire Bowl.

He completed one of his two passes for 13 yards in the 37–24 victory.

Ryan also received the 2004 Freshman Male Scholar-Athlete award in the same year.

At the beginning of the 2005 season, Ryan was named the second-string quarterback behind Quinton Porter.

Porter had some success at the beginning of the year, including winning Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Week for his performance in Boston College's 28–17 win over Virginia.

After a 30–10 loss to third-ranked Virginia Tech, coach Tom O'Brien finally went to Ryan for good in the fourth quarter of the next game against North Carolina State.

In ten games, of which he started five, he completed 121 of 195 passes for 1,514 yards.

He had eight touchdowns and five interceptions.

He also rushed for five touchdowns and 94 yards.

He started his first bowl game in the MPC Computers Bowl versus Boise State.

He completed 19 of 36 passes for 256 yards and a career-best three touchdowns in the 27–21 victory to help Boston College finish with a #18 ranking in the final AP Poll.

Ryan started 11 of the 12 games.

He completed 263-of-427 passes for a conference-leading 2,942 yards, 15 touchdowns, and ten interceptions.

In addition, he rushed for four touchdowns.

He was All-ACC first-team and led the ACC in total offense (242.2 yards per game) and in passing yards (245.5 yards per game).

He was selected by the Falcons with the third overall pick of the 2008 NFL Draft.

He is also an analyst for CBS Sports.

Ryan immediately made an impact by taking the Falcons to the playoffs in his first season, earning him Offensive Rookie of the Year.

During his Atlanta tenure, he led the team to six playoff appearances, three of which were division titles, and received four Pro Bowl selections.

His most successful season was in 2016 when he was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) and led the Falcons to an appearance in Super Bowl LI.

Ryan was traded to the Indianapolis Colts in 2022, where he spent one season.

Ryan went to William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia where he was a three-year starter and earned All-East honors from Larunt Lemming Prep Football Report.