Falcons right tacker Ryan Schraeder is pretty sure that he will not be re-applying for that old job at the meat packing plant in Kansas.
Monday was a big one for the former undrafted player from Valdosta State. Schraeder agreed to terms on a five-year, $33 million contract extension with the team. Not quite like his days at Indian Hills Steaks and Poultry.
“I was working at a meat plant (after high school),” said Schraeder, a native of Wichita, Kan. “I was delivering meat. We delivered steaks around to the restaurants in the community. I’ve come a long way since then.”
Financially and physically. Schraeder was only 5-foot-7 going into his senior season of high school, where he was a baseball and basketball player. Then he shot up to 6-4.
“Ever since then, I’ve grown and filled out,” Schraeder said.
Schraeder, who played football in grade school but not at Maize High School, flirted with playing at Kansas State. But he ended up at Butler (Kan.) Community College as a walk-on, where he redshirted a year and played one season at left tackle.
Because of holding down his job and the subsequent delay before he entered college, Division II became the best route for Schraeder, which is how he landed at Valdosta State. After playing two years for the Blazers, Schraeder was signed by the Falcons among 24 undrafted players in 2013.
In time, Schraeder developed into a starter and is considered a part of the team’s future. His contract has $12.5 million guaranteed and is worth $19.5 million over the first three years.
It was just last Oct. 9 in a game in Denver against Super Bowl most valuable player Von Miller when Schraeder took a major step forward to earning his new deal. Schraeder held Miller to one sack and four hurries, showing his worthiness against top-flight competition in a consequential Falcons win.
“It was a good battle,” Schraeder said. “He’s a good player. I felt good all day. He threw that spin move on me. He had a good move, but I felt good about what we did as a unit. Coming out, I felt we ran the ball well at times. We protected really well overall. I felt really good coming out of it.”
Schraeder, 28, had signed a one-year $2.553 million contract last season after the Falcons placed a second-round tender on him.
There has been a strong market recently for right tackles. Philadelphia signed right tackle Lane Johnson to a five-year, $56.2 million deal in January. In March, Kansas City signed right tackle Mitchell Schwartz to a five-year, $33 million deal and San Diego locked down right tackle Joe Barksdale to four-year $22.2 million deal.
Schraeder has started 40 games and played in 52 over three-plus seasons. Last year, he was named to Pro Football Focus’ All-NFL First Team. Through 10 games this season, he’s ranked by Pro Football Focus’ 14th overall tackle and their fifth ranked right tackle.
He has also been a part of an offensive line that’s helped the Falcons average 416.6 yards per game and 32 points per game, averages which would set franchise records.
With Schraeder signed, the Falcons have a key piece to the offensive line lock up. Center Alex Mack signed a four-year deal last offseason. Left tackle Jake Matthews has one more year remaining on his rookie contract and will likely get his fifth-year option picked up for 2017 before the team has to sign him to a long-term deal.
That leaves the guard positions for offseason attention and the team has been pleased with the development of Ben Garland.
“Having that continuity at the line of scrimmage is really important,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said. “I love the work that that group puts in together. For us, it starts up front with the line of scrimmage.”
Schraeder likely could have landed a larger deal in free agency, but elected to stay with the Falcons.
“That’s huge. When you get a group of guys together for multiple years and then into the future, that’s huge,”Schraeder said. “I’m excited. I think we’ve got big things ahead of us. We just have to keep pushing.”
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