The Pro Football Retired Players Association will celebrate Ryan, Ovie Mughelli, Brian Jordan and Pedro Salgado at a September banquet in Atlanta.
He snapped at veteran teammates. He told Roddy White to pipe down. He commanded
the huddle — and he hadn’t even gone through rookie hazing. Matt Ryan’s training camp— and first-play touchdown pass — in 2008 proved to Ovie Mughelli he was different.
Now, some 18 years later, they’ll be two of four champions honored together Sept. 17 at
Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where the Pro Football Retired Players Association will hold its third annual banquet to recognize the athletes who are still making positive impacts, along with others who make significant contributions within the former player community.
“He’s got the heart of a champion,” Mughelli told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about Ryan on Wednesday. “He's a warrior. He never wanted to let us down, and I appreciated and respected that. And he does the same thing with his work in the community, his work in charity.”
Ryan and Mughelli join Falcons director of youth football and legends community Pedro Salgado and former Falcons safety and Braves outfielder Brian Jordan in Atlanta’s inaugural class.
“It's a pretty tremendous group,” PFRPA board chair Darrell Thompson told the AJC.
The PFRPA, which has over 10,000 members, creates benefits, programs and initiatives for retired NFL players.
Within PFRPA’s sects is the Greater Good Fund, a charitable foundation that provides dental and vision insurance, something Mughelli said has made a significant impact on he and his wife’s lives.
“Most athletes have that bravado to where, ‘I'm fine. I'm good, I can do it,’ and they won't take the help, especially if that help is something that's an extra cost or an extra burden,” Mughelli said. “But the fact that PFRPA rolls it out for players, it's so powerful because it says, ‘All right, well, I got to use it.’
“They do a great job of outreach as well, because if the guys don't know it exists, then they can't use it. So, they have a product. They're doing the outreach, and they're helping players be the best version of themselves.”
The PFRPA started doing banquets in 2024, designed to spread awareness to its mission and the value of its benefits for players. Green Bay hosted the first banquet two years ago and Houston held the second edition, honoring champions from the Packers and Texans, respectively.
Now, it’s Atlanta’s turn.The city has the second-largest concentration of PFRPA members in the country, which Thompson said made it an appealing attraction for a tour that figures to, in the years ahead, make stops in Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis and more.
“Atlanta is one of the hubs for former players,” Thompson said. “A lot of former players
are living in Atlanta, reside in Atlanta. It's kind of in the middle of the country. So, I just
felt like it was the right place for us to have the event.”
The PFRPA’s banquet, which takes place three days before the Falcons’ regular season
home opener, is open to the public. Tickets and additional information are available on
the company’s website, and all proceeds from the banquet go to support the PFRPA
Greater Good Fund.
“If there's people that want to come that know any of the folks that are on our award list, or they just want to learn a little bit more about what we're doing,” Thompson said, “we'd love to have them.”
Meet the honorees
Ryan started 222 games at quarterback across 14 seasons with the Falcons. Drafted No. 3 overall in 2008, he arrived with lofty expectations and left as the franchise’s all-time leader in all major passing categories. He’s now the Falcons’ president of football.
Off the field, Ryan, along with his wife, Sarah, founded ATL: Advance The Lives in 2020.
According to the PFRPA’s release, the program is designed to “alleviate structural barriers to Black youth success by working with after-school programs to increase the social capital of Black youth and their families.” Their primary target is Atlanta’s south and west sides.
Mughelli was the Falcons’ defending Walter Payton Man of the Year recipient when the team drafted Ryan. They were teammates for Ryan’s first four years in the NFL, a span in which Mughelli watched Ryan ascend not only into a franchise quarterback but a man well-suited to make an impact off the field.
“He donated so much money, but it’s not just about the money,” Mughelli said. “It's about his intention and his ability to bring people together.”
Mughelli played nine seasons in the NFL, including the final five in Atlanta. Across 107 games and 51 starts, he caught 62 passes for 490 yards and six touchdowns while rushing 42 times for 120 yards and an additional score.
A pre-med student when he attended Wake Forest, Mughelli’s initiatives center around
healthcare, education and the environment. He’s on the boards of Communities In Schools of Atlanta, the Northside Hospital Foundation and the MUSC Hollings Cancer Center Advisory Board.
When the Falcons needed one yard, they’d give the ball to Mughelli. They knew he leaned into adversity, leaned into contact, and wanted the weight on his shoulders. He’s carried the same mentality into his life after football.
“That's how I live,” Mughelli said. “Leaning into things that other people have trouble with so I can help.”
Jordan played for the Falcons from 1989-91 before spending 1992-2006 in the MLB, a
stint that included five years with the Braves. He made the MLB All-Star Game in 1999.
In 1998, Jordan launched The Brian Jordan Foundation in metro Atlanta, designed to
help children grow both their minds and bodies. For local youth who are economically
disadvantaged, the BJF gives access to education, literacy awareness, health education
and financial assistance.
“Brian Jordan played baseball and football, which is — in high school, I was playing football, ran track, and did a little bit of basketball, too. But it's a whole different thing to do it at the professional level,” Thompson said. “And also having his own foundation, his commitment to the community, we feel like he's very, very deserving.”
Salgado holds a leadership role in supporting the Falcons’ retired player community through initiatives geared toward strengthening engagement and opportunities. He also helps expand football access to youth and improves the team’s relationship within the youth and high school football community.
“I don't think there's anyone that's more important to those coaches and the directors
that run youth football in those leagues,” Thompson said. “You learn and realize those
young men are going to be the future leaders and you're going to be connected to them
throughout the rest of your life.
“I know Pedro certainly is having that impact on the young people as well.” Mughelli agreed.
“I could spend this whole call talking about how awesome Pedro is,” he said.
It’ll be a while, Thompson said, until the PFRPA banquet is back in Atlanta. But the program won’t soon stop. Mughelli said he and his colleagues will be former players for much longer than they were active players, and they need the structure and assistance provided by the PFRPA to figure out life.
Communities need players like Ryan, Mughelli and Jordan, and leaders like Salgado, to flourish. The PFRPA feels like this group — one chosen from a vast pool of options — warrants recognition. And Mughelli, the group’s de-facto spokesperson, said he’s honored to be joined by the trio of difference-makers around him.
“With the platform I have, that Matt has, that Brian Jordan has, even that Pedro has —
we could do a lot with it, or we can do nothing,” Mughelli said. “So, I'm so proud to say
I'm in the company of guys who are doing something with their platform.”
Read the original article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
