Exclusive: Matt Ryan to guest on ManningCast

For the second week of the ESPN/Omaha Productions ManningCast Monday Night Football alternate broadcast, covering the Atlanta Falcons’ road clash with the Philadelphia Eagles, Peyton and Eli Manning have tabbed a notable player from the Philadelphia area who went on to great success with the Falcons and is now a CBS Sports broadcaster. That would be Matt Ryan.

Ryan was born in Exton, Pennsylvania, around an hour west of Philadelphia proper. He went to William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia (the school featured in The Goldbergs as “William Penn Academy,” and one that also has another athlete-turned-broadcaster alum in Rubén Amaro Jr.), then went on to college football success with Boston College. The Falcons drafted him third overall in the 2008 NFL draft, and he played there through 2021 before wrapping up his playing career with the Indianapolis Colts in 2022.

Ryan started his broadcast career as a game analyst for CBS last year ( working alongside Andrew Catalon, Tiki Barber, and reporter AJ Ross), and stayed there despite talk he might try to make a NFL comeback, saying “ I love what I’m doing .” This year, he shifted to CBS’ revamped The NFL Today pregame show, joining James Brown, Bill Cowher, JJ Watt, and Nate Burleson. And now, he’s a rare NFL broadcaster guesting on another network’s coverage of the league.

This marks the fourth season for the ManningCast, which has received lots of plaudits (including Sports Emmys for the show as Outstanding Live Series in 2022 and this year, and a Sports Emmy for Peyton Manning as Outstanding Studio Analyst in 2023).  It’s set for 11 games this season , but Monday’s game will be the last one until Oct. 7 . It’s also set to be a big part of ESPN/ABC NFL broadcasts for some time to come, including with Super Bowl LXI on ABC in 2027.

Meanwhile, this offseason saw the Mannings add a prominent regular guest in Bill Belichick (who’s set to appear during each first quarter) this offseason. They’ve also changed their approach to guests to focus more on big plays when they happen than just the interviews.

That change (denoted by Peyton Manning in a Bussin’ With The Boys podcast ) included a comment on possibly going to less guests, where he talked about using maybe just Belichick, one current or former player, and one non-player celebrity. (For Monday’s game, actor Miles Teller, known for Whiplash , Top Gun: Maverick , and more, will also be a guest.) In that interview, Manning said key things for the broadcast to work on were “being sure the guests are dialed into the game and being sure we’re always talking about what’s going on in the game”; that certainly should be easy with Ryan given his media experience at this point in addition to his playing experience.

Monday’s ManningCast will air on ESPN2 beginning at 8 p.m. ET.

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