The Colts acquired Matt Ryan on Monday from the Falcons in exchange for a third-round draft pick. They didn't waste time ensuring that their new quarterback would be very happy in Indianapolis.
As a part of the trade, the Colts agreed to make a sizable adjustment to Ryan's contract. They didn't extend him; the 36-year-old still has two years left on the five-year, $150 million contract extension he signed with the Falcons in 2018.
However, the Colts made sure that Ryan would get much more guaranteed money over those final two seasons than he was initially supposed to make.
What adjustments did the Colts make to Ryan's contract? Here are the details of his new contract in Indianapolis, as well as the impact Ryan's departure is having on the Falcons' salary cap.
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Matt Ryan contract details
Ryan is in the final two years of a five-year, $150 million contract he signed with the Falcons in 2018. He is set to make roughly $54 million over the next two years, but the original deal didn't contain any guarantees.
As such, the Colts could have cut Ryan without taking on a dead-cap hit. He had little security, so Indianapolis decided to guarantee the money as a gesture of goodwill.
The Colts elected to make the rest of Ryan's $54 million contract guaranteed, per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. That included paying him the $7.5 million roster bonus that came due on Tuesday morning.
As part of the deal to acquire new QB Matt Ryan, the #Colts picked up his $7.5M roster bonus and added guarantees to the entirety of his 2-year deal that has nearly $54M left overall, source said.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 22, 2022
So, Ryan is now set to make nearly $54 million guaranteed over two years. That's a solid agreement for him, even without signing an extension.
Below is a year-by-year breakdown of Ryan's contract, per OverTheCap.com.
| Year | Base salary | Roster bonus | Cap hit |
| 2022 | $17.2 million | $7.5 million | $24.7 million |
| 2023 | $21.7 million | $7.5 million | $29.2 million |
| Total | $38.9 million | $15 million | $53.9 million |
The Colts may convert Ryan's roster bonus to a signing bonus to fully guarantee it, but either way, he is going to be getting $53.9 million guaranteed over two years. Meanwhile, Indianapolis should have a two-year starter for the first time since Andrew Luck's retirement and will be getting Ryan at a solid market value of less than $30 million per year.
While the acquisition of Ryan and his new contract look favorable for the Colts, the Falcons will have a bit more trouble trying to move on from their long-time starting quarterback. At least in 2022.
MORE: Why Matt Ryan could have Philip Rivers-type impact for Colts in 2022
Matt Ryan dead-cap hit with Falcons
Matt Ryan is leaving behind not only a gaping hole at Atlanta's quarterback position, but he is also set to leave behind a historic dead-cap hit.
Dead cap space is salary cap space that is taken up by a player no longer on a team. This usually stems from guaranteed money paid to a player who has been released or traded, as is the case with Ryan.
Ryan's dead-cap hit with the Falcons is set to be a whopping $40.5 million, per OverTheCap.com. So, the Falcons will effectively be budgeting $40.5 million — or 19.5 percent of their cap space — to Ryan, who isn't even on Atlanta's roster.
Ryan's dead-cap hit is by far the largest in NFL history. He is ahead of the second-place finisher in this category, Carson Wentz, by $7.5 million and is one of just six players overall to have a dead-cap hit of more than $20 million.
| Player | Team | Dead cap |
| Matt Ryan | Falcons | $40.5 million |
| Carson Wentz | Eagles | $33.8 million |
| Julio Jones | Falcons | $23.5 million |
| Jared Goff | Rams | $22.2 million |
| Brandin Cooks | Rams | $21.8 million |
| Antonio Brown | Steelers | $21.6 million |
How will this impact the Falcons? It means they won't be able to sign as many quality players in free agency. They made a couple of lower-budget additions, like Marcus Mariota and Casey Hayward, but they had to let others, like Foye Oluokun and Russell Gage, go because they couldn't afford them.
The good news for Atlanta is that Ryan's $40.5 million cap hit will come off the books in 2023. That will give the Falcon a nice little reset, as OverTheCap currently projects them to have a whopping $113 million in cap space during the 2023 NFL offseason.
MORE: What's next for Baker Mayfield, Jimmy G after Matt Ryan trade
As nice as that may be, the Falcons will still be significantly cap-strapped in 2022. That will put them closer to picking in the top-10 of the 2023 NFL Draft than it will to the back-end of the NFC wild-card race.
