Long process ends for Ryan on Saturday

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(The following is another installment of the Matt Ryan diary exclusive to FOXSports.com. The former Boston College star is slated to be the first quarterback selected in the upcoming NFL Draft, and he joins FOXSports.com to chime in with a first-hand account of his travel to his big day. As told to Jay Glazer, Ryan will take our readers along for the journey every 10 days or so until his name is called from the podium on draft day, and share his reaction to his whirlwind life in the days after the draft. In this installment, Ryan talks about the final week leading up to Saturday and his decision to attend the draft.

The interviews are done. The poking, the prodding, over! The visits and incessant question after question, I'm done with them all. Now that all the insanity that goes into evaluating players is over I've come to realize one thing: I stink at poker.

Not football, I think I'm pretty good at that. Poker, I stink!

I've had meeting after meeting with coaches, GMs, assistants, scouts, doctors — you name it I've met with them. I had dinners, lunches, brunches, classroom sessions. Used the greaseboard, chalkboard, film. Thrown passes, run sprints, gotten pulled in every direction and after all that, I still can't read a single team to see who is drafting me.

I couldn't read a single tell on anybody's face. Every single team I met with left me with the same exact line, "Great, we'll be in touch." I have no idea what "in touch means."

Does that mean don't call me, we'll call you, which is a catch phrase for buzz off? Or, did some of those teams truly mean they'll be in touch with me the morning of the draft? I have absolutely no idea. Even the teams rumored to have an interest in me gave me zero indication that in fact they had an interest. No idea who likes me, who has no use for me and who will actually draft me.

Following my last personal visit last week, which was with the Ravens, I started to allow it all to sink in. All this stuff is truly and really over. The next step is Saturday. One of those teams that said they'll "be in touch" actually will be in touch.

But come Saturday, my dream will come true.

Do I want to know now? Sure, who wouldn't?

It's really on each player to resist the temptation to try to figure this thing out. I know I had to stop myself very early last week in trying to put together some rhyme to the reason because I'd obsess over it. I want to enjoy this process, not drive myself insane over it. The only thing I know is whoever decides to take me, they'll get a guy who will work his butt off for them non-stop.

But who is it going to be? Ask someone else. Unfortunately, everyone thinks that we have some sort of indication, some inkling. The only thing I know is what I read and hear from friends and my agents. Otherwise, those teams led me to believe nothing.

Despite having no idea which team will send in a card with my name on it, I've still decided to go to the draft in the Big Apple.

Some of my friends have talked to me about this in light of what happened with Brady Quinn last year and Aaron Rodgers a few drafts ago. But even if I slide, I'm OK with it. I talked to my family and for me, it's a dream come true whether I go third, 10th or 25th.

I grew up watching those before me walk up, pose with the commissioner with the jersey held up high — that's every young football fan's dream to be in that position. Wherever I go, I'll still be able to live that dream.

Trust me, I've thought long and hard about it but I don't just want to experience it for myself. I want it for my folks, too. My mom and dad will be the one's right next to me in the Green Room. The NFL allows each of us to have eight guests and I've got my parents, two brothers, my sister and her husband, my girlfriend and my agents with me, but my parents will sit on either side of me the morning of. They all know the deal. It's happened to two other QBs in recent drafts and it could happen to me.

The best advice I got was from a buddy who told me, "Don't be someone else's misery shot." In other words, if in fact I become that guy who drops, don't be the guy on camera looking like the sky is falling for all the world to see. I need to have fun and be loose no matter what. I. I promise you, I will enjoy this and soak in the positives. Obviously I hope I don't drop, but if I do, we're going to have a blast back there, trust me!

Plus, I wasn't supposed to be here in the first place. I wasn't a huge recruit coming out of high school, didn't get a lot of attention last season. I've only really burst onto the scene this past year. As far as I'm concerned, it's all gravy. Even No. 31 is gravy and I can't and won't look at it any other way. I'm more worried about my loved ones dealing with a drop than I am about myself.
Odds are that Matt Ryan won't slip like Brady Quinn did last year.

I've told myself and my family that regardless of the outcome, I'll be in the NFL this weekend. The process was long, often tiring, and at times monotonous. But looking back, what an incredible experience.

I was asked what the most difficult or strangest part of the process was. The answer took me less than a second to answer — the medical exams at the combine. There was absolutely nothing to prepare me for that experience. You're on a doctor's table and 14 doctors are pulling on different body parts at the same time. It's like I was just a big piece of cow meat at an auction and the butchers were dissecting me to see how much I should be sold for (or something like that). I'm trying to find the proper analogy, but I don't have much to compare it to.

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http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/8058960/Long-process-ends-for-Ryan-on-Saturday