With minicamp marking the final stage of the offseason for the Falcons, quarterback Matt Ryan highlighted his good health and competitive drive after a scorching day of practice Tuesday.
Heading in to his 10th NFL season, Ryan has amazingly missed just two games, a career of rare longevity.
“You just don’t know, said Ryan when asked how much longer he thinks he can keep playing. “You hope for one of those 15-to-20-year careers for sure … that’s what the hope is. The one thing that I’ve found in this league is if you project too far off … it’s tough to do that because things change constantly. I’m thankful that I’m healthy and I’m going to do everything I can to make it last as long as I can.”
With Roddy White retiring as a Falcon on Monday, Ryan commented on what his longtime favorite target meant to his career. In the eight seasons that the duo played together, White accumulated 8,709 yards receiving and 54 touchdowns.
“I told Roddy he was old when I got into the league, so I still feel pretty young,” Ryan said jokingly. “It puts things into perspective for sure. I had eight years together with Roddy. Really, I’ve never had a better teammate. He was such a great player … he was a warrior, unbelievable in the locker room, such a good leader by example.
“Probably no one has meant more to my career than him. He’s been incredibly impactful. It’s always nice to see him get recognized the way he did, because he deserves it. And it is always a little bit like, man I’m not that young anymore, when you see those guys retire. But I still feel really good. I still feel like I’ve got a lot of football in front of me, so hopefully I can play a long time.”
Potentially helping Ryan’s run of good health is a recent hire by the Falcons – nutritionist Marie Spano. Also working with the Braves and Hawks, Spano helps Falcons players maintain a healthy diet, something many teams have transitioned focus to recently.
“Marie has been great. She’s done a great job for us,” Ryan said. “One of the biggest things is to try limit inflammation. With all the stress and as hard as we work and as taxing as it is on the body, you need to try to minimize inflammation, and she’s been really helpful with that.”
When asked what has been the hardest to cut out of his diet, Ryan said that sugar hasn’t been easy.
“I mean, sweets are kind of out the window now. Sugar’s not real good for inflammation, so that’s one of the harder things to get rid of.”
Newly signed defensive lineman Dontari Poe made his Falcons mini-camp debut Tuesday and it came with good news. By hitting his weigh-in target, Poe received a $125,000 bonus. In his short time with Atlanta, he already has seen Ryan’s impact as a quarterback and leader.
“I don’t think it’s too much of a secret,” Poe said. “But it is what it is … real good guy, great quarterback, great teammate and great leader. So you kind of hear him sometimes getting people going when it needs to be (done) … love the guy.”
The overall vibe of the practice seemed energetic and enthusiastic. Minus Takkarist McKinley and Trevor Robinson, the full roster showed up with rehabbing starters like Julio Jones, Desmond Trufant and Adrian Clayborn participating.
“It was a good start to minicamp for us,” Ryan said. “I think the goals are to clean up the things we worked on through the OTA period … try and see where some of our young guys are at. I thought they did a great job improving over the last month that they’ve been here. It’ll be a good finish for us for the offseason portion of our year.”
As the season draws closer, the obvious questions have begun to arise about Super Bowl hangovers and disappointment, all of which Ryan quickly denied.
“Anytime that we go back and dwell on that, it’s wasted time,” he said “We’ve got to focus on trying to become the best football team that this group can be. I sense that from all the guys. I think everybody has that mindset.”
Wednesday’s practice in Flowery Branch will be open to the public. Gates open at 1 p.m. with practice beginning at 2:05.
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