Tom Curran • E-mail

The Atlanta Falcons didn’t just draft a quarterback Saturday afternoon. They bought a commodity.

And because of that Matt Ryan will face pressure more intense and complex than any other player taken in the 2008 draft.

There’s a weird dynamic going on in Atlanta. So desperate is this franchise to emerge from the soul-staining darkness of Michael Vick and Bobby Petrino, you get the feeling that the Falcons are joining Ryan as much as he is joining them.

“Face of the franchise” was the phrase uttered over and over when Ryan was discussed. Yet of all the body parts necessary for success at the most difficult position in sports “face” isn’t one of them.

This isn’t just about playing quarterback. It’s about being on billboards and season-ticket envelopes, shaking hands with corporate sponsors, being available to local and national media, kissing babies, helping old ladies cross the street, getting potholes fixed, lowering gas prices and never, ever getting your picture snapped by a cell phone camera while stumbling out of a nightclub.

“All I can do is go down there and work as hard as I possibly can and make sure that I’m as prepared heading into the season as I can possibly be and earn the respect of my teammates,” Ryan told me Saturday. “All the other stuff doesn’t matter. It’s just about winning games and getting down there and working hard.”

No it’s not. It’s a lot more complex than that.

How do you feel if you’re a Falcons veteran like Keith Brooking or Lawyer Milloy or Jerious Norwood? You pushed a plow for this franchise. You stood and answered the questions about Vick and Petrino and dealt with the losing and the evaporating fanbase.

Now you’ve been told now that this kid is your team’s shining light. You’ll watch as owner Arthur Blank fawns over Ryan and claps his shoulder with a broad smile. You’ll hear so much about Ryan’s strength of character, you won’t know whether to shake his hand in the locker room or kiss his ring. He’ll make more than many of the veterans combined and he won’t just be unproven, he’ll be untested.

Sure, he’s a terrifically nice kid with a charming personality and winning smile. Ryan might ask new teammate Joey Harrington, the third overall pick of the Lions back in 2000, if that’s all it takes to win a locker room.

Christian Fauria, former tight end for the Seahawks, Patriots, Redskins and Panthers, told me Monday, “You want to find out right away whether he’s (tough enough). Is he scared? Can he tell people what to do? You can’t be afraid to tell people what you want when you’re a quarterback but you can’t pretend you’re better than anyone either.”

Even if Ryan walks the locker room tightrope perfectly, it’s worth wondering how he will go over with the fans of Atlanta, one of the most racially diverse cities in America.

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As of last summer, more than half of the Falcons season ticket holders were black. Until last summer, so was their quarterback, the electrifying Vick.

It’s not a stretch to say that Atlanta embraced Vick not just for the way he played but also because they identified with him. And their loyalty was evident last summer as large blocs of black fans remained supportive to Vick even as evidence against him mounted.

It’s inevitable that Falcons fans are going to notice that this new “face of the franchise” doesn’t have a face that looks like theirs. Or that of Vick. And what, exactly, is that saying to a Falcons fan?

Can the Falcons avoid billing Ryan as a Great White Hope?

Can Atlanta help but feeling Ryan is being billed as such even if nobody comes out and says so?

So the fate of the Falcons now rests largely on the skinny, 22-year-old shoulders of a kid that looks more like Richie Cunningham than Randall Cunningham.

Atlanta fans, ask not what your Falcons will do for you. Ask what Matt Ryan will do for your Falcons.

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