Matt Ryan could return to Falcons under 1 condition

The Atlanta Falcons knew they would run the risk of damaging their relationship with Matt Ryan if they pursued Deshaun Watson, and they may have to fork over some extra cash to make things right.

Ryan is due a $7.5 million roster bonus on Monday afternoon. The deadline for the Falcons to pay that was pushed back while they tried to work out a trade for Watson. Now that Watson has gone to the Cleveland Browns, it sounds like Atlanta has two options — trade Ryan or pay him more.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the Falcons have fielded calls from teams that have interest in trading for Ryan. They are also contemplating signing Ryan to a new contract, which they were doing before the Watson sweepstakes heated up.

This started before the #Falcons lost the Deshaun Watson sweepstakes and continued through the weekend. Matt Ryan has two years and about $54 million left on his contract. https://t.co/e2NdyRVkxu

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 21, 2022

Ryan has two years remaining on his contract. His cap hit for 2022 is currently more than $48 million, and the Falcons always planned to lower that number. The question now is whether they will have to pay more to do so in order to make things less awkward.

The Falcons have had four straight losing seasons, so they might decide to move on from their soon-to-be 37-year-old quarterback rather than committing more money to him. If they do trade Ryan, one AFC team has been mentioned as a potential suitor.

Photo: Jan 31, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan answers questions during a press conference at Westin Houston Memorial City Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports