It's been in the works for a while now, but the Atlanta Falcons just made it official: Matt Ryan will be joining the front office as the new president of football. This was expected after the Falcons fired Raheem Morris and Terry Fontenot, but they're finally ushering in a new era inside the front office.
The #Falcons are hiring former star QB Matt Ryan as their new President of Football. The job created with him in mind, Ryan will now have final say in Atlanta. pic.twitter.com/Vp0rVLe4v0
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 10, 2026
The Dirty Birds still conducted a legitimate hiring process (presumably with some potential GM candidates), but this is always how this was going to end up. While altering the vision in the front office, Arthur Blank created the job for him, but the big challenge is what will follow going forward.
Ryan's new position as the president of football means that he'll be calling the shots amid Atlanta's search for a new GM and head coach. They've started to consider some early candidates, but nothing was concrete, but now that the POF search is official, the coaching madness will finally commence.
Candidates like Josh Williams and Ian Cunningham were passed over now, but expect Ryan to seriously consider them for the GM post.
Matt Ryan is officially joining the Falcons' front office as the president of football
After Blank used the consulting firm Sportsology to conduct an overall health check of the organization, it revealed that the football operations lacked a clear vision. They lacked a top executive to work with the head coach and GM to call the shots, but also serve in a general oversight capacity.
As far as candidates go, Ryan is great for the job. Despite not having any executive experience, he's still a franchise legend who most fans trust to turn this team around. He's also someone who does a lot to help the Atlanta community, which is nice because he still resides in Atlanta after retiring.
Blank lkened the position to be a "true football czar", and you can't deny that the 40-year-old is an elite football mind. Since retiring, the former NFL MVP has ventured into sports media, but even during his playing days, he was regarded as one of the smartest signal-callers in the league.
However, his league-wide connections could play a role in the search. Cunningham is the right-hand man to his longtime friend Ryan Poles, Brian Flores was his college teammate, and Mike McDaniel was on Kyle Shanahan's offensive staff when the team went to the Super Bowl back in 2016.
The four-time Pro Bowler was the last player to lead the Falcons to true postseason success, and now he's the one ensuring a highly talented roster can get over the hump in the NFC. Adding Ryan to the front office is a promising start, but let's see how he handles the search for a new regime.