Kyle Pitts says President of Football Matt Ryan still leads the Atlanta Falcons the way he did when they were teammates, even if Ryan’s role has changed. Pitts pointed to their practice-field meetings during Organized Team Activities and described Ryan’s leade
Kyle Pitts didn’t need a highlight to make the connection. He just needed to see Matt Ryan back around the building.
During the Falcons’ recent Organized Team Activities, Pitts watched Ryan throw passes to him on the practice field. It pulled something up from the past, the kind of moment that feels simple in the middle of practice and then stays with you afterward.
“It’s a nostalgic moment,” Pitts said. “It’s great having Matt out here and, you know, he can still spin it like he can still play. So, it’s it’s pretty cool to see.”
Pitts knows the roster isn’t the same as the one Ryan last lived with as a teammate. The Falcons’ roster Ryan oversees as President of Football this year is different from the group he played with when he last played for the team in 2021. Still, Pitts said the leadership hasn’t changed.
“He still talks the same,” Pitts said of Ryan. “He’s just in a different role. He’s still the same person. I feel like he’s wrapping me tighter under his wing. from a different perspective as a front office guy now. But he just has a different role. He’s still leading the team in some sort of way, but just not physically.”.
Ryan, Atlanta’s starting quarterback from 2008 to 2021, has moved on from playing. Pitts said that shift hasn’t made the approach any less personal—Ryan is simply operating from a different side of the building.
Pitts also said he and Ryan have kept in touch over the years since Ryan left the Falcons after Pitts’ rookie season.
“I know him more personally rather than some of these younger guys and rookies,” Pitts said. “I got a chance to play with him. But it’s it’s cool to see and and have him around the building.”
The through-line in Pitts’ comments is unmistakable: the Falcons may look different now, but the leadership style he associates with Ryan shows up in the way Ryan still talks, still watches, and still finds time to be in the moments that matter—just no longer in a quarterback’s stance.
Kyle Pitts Matt Ryan Atlanta Falcons Organized Team Activities Falcons roster President of Football leadership