Atlanta Falcons QB Matt Ryan deserved a better send-off, but these things often get messy

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Sometimes NFL divorces can take years. Not this one. Not close. It happened, seemingly, in an instant. Whether drawn out or instantaneous, they rarely are ever pretty or fair.

For quarterback Matt Ryan, how the Atlanta Falcons handled things over the last month wasn't either. What could have been an honorable sendoff turned into one full of speculation and waiting.

The Falcons, for a week, courted now Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson. In chasing Watson, Atlanta made clear the succession plan owner Arthur Blank said the team had been investigating for years was potentially getting sped up.

On Monday, it was accelerated further as Ryan was traded to the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for a third-round pick. It was the end of an era and sent the Falcons into an unknown future. Two weeks ago, this seemed an unlikely ending. Then the Falcons became one of four teams chasing Watson and everything became public and a little messy and complicated.

Moving on from Ryan signals an Atlanta rebuild as the team adds quarterback to its list of needs and has to search for a replacement, both in the short term and long term. Four straight losing seasons — the Falcons have not been over .500 at any point since the 2017 season concluded with a playoff bid — put Atlanta in this position. Something needed to change. The Falcons needed to start to figure out their future. The public push for Watson might have just jump-started the timeline.

Endings are rarely storybook, whether you're Joe Namath or Joe Montana or, in the Falcons world, Steve Bartkowski. For every Tom Brady and Matthew Stafford, who get to have a say in their own exit from the franchise they've spent a decade leading, more often it's a