Don’t go making plans quite yet for a divorce between Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons. As the 36-year-old begins to prepare for his 15th season in the NFL, there’s plenty of speculation regarding if that will be with the team that drafted him with the third overall pick in 2008, or if he’ll suit up for a different organization for the first time. If Arthur Blank has anything to say about it — and he does because, well, he’s the owner — Ryan will be the Falcons starting quarterback when the 2022 season gets underway in September.

“At some point, there will be a sunset for him, but exactly when that is I really can’t tell you, because I really don’t know,” Blank said during Super Bowl week, per the team’s official website.

Stopping just shy of making the outright proclamation to avoid stepping on the toes of head coach Arthur Smith and general manager Terry Fontenot, Blank went on to note how Ryan wants to remain in Atlanta, and that Atlanta (the team, because the city is a different story with wildly differing opinions) wants him under center.

“(Ryan) loves the game. He loves the Falcons. He loves the city, and he wants to stay here,” Blank added. “That’s a decision the coach and general manager will make. But we have no reason to think he won’t continue to be playing quarterback for us.”

Ryan has two years remaining on his current contract and is set to hit the Falcons’ salary cap for a hefty sum of $48.66 million in 2022, following by a $43.61 million cap hit in 2023. Those are enormous numbers to absorb for a team coming off of a 7-10 season — their fourth consecutive losing season — and currently sitting at roughly $6.5 million over the cap. This means the organization will have to make some tough decisions, not unlike one year ago when Fontenot traded future Hall of Fame receiver Julio Jones to the Tennessee Titans in Fontenot’s first year as general manager.

That shows he isn’t afraid to pull the trigger on tectonic decisions, but the Falcons have not identified an heir to Ryan that would pave the way for such a move, with Blank harping on transition and timing as yet another reason he’d like Ryan to stick around.

“Great franchises have a successful transition from one quarterback to the next,” Blank said. “We want to make sure we’re focused on doing the same thing. Coach understands that and so does our general manager.”

The Falcons selected tight end Kyle Pitts with the fourth overall pick last April, a player with the potential to replace Jones, but that means they had to pass on top QB talent like Mac Jones and Justin Fields to select the former Gator. They’re currently in possession of the No. 8 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, but are also unsure about the wide receiver position (yet again) due to the looming free agency of Calvin Ridley, as well as being in dire need of a star pass-rusher and a bolstering of the offensive line.

In Ryan’s first year under Smith and Fontenot, he threw for 3,968 yards (the lowest since his sophomore season in the NFL) and only 20 touchdowns to 12 interceptions. There’s a lot of blame to spread around when dissecting why Ryan’s numbers took a step back in 2021, but the additional fact is he’s not getting any younger, his cap hits aren’t getting any smaller, and the Falcons haven’t been to the playoffs since 2017.

To say they have a heavy offseason in front of them is putting it mildly.