Falcons Restructure Contracts of Matt Ryan and Grady Jarrett and Free up Cap Space in 2020
By Andy Loughmiller
The Atlanta Falcons had a forgettable season in 2019. However, their inability to make the playoffs has afforded them with the luxury of getting a head start for 2020.
Atlanta is currently sitting with about $12 million in cap space after moving some money around and converting the base salaries of Matt Ryan and Grady Jarrett for next year into bonuses.
The Falcons restructured the contracts of QB Matt Ryan and DT Grady Jarrett, converting 2020 base salary and bonuses into bonuses paid out yesterday.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) December 28, 2019
The moves allow those bonuses to prorate and created north of $12M in 2020 cap space. Planning ahead by Atlanta.
This has become a fairly common practice in the NFL. The player ultimately gets the same amount of money, and so long as a team expects to keep said player around for the years to come, there is little downside to the conversion. However, this could limit them in the future if they eventually want to part ways.
According to David Walker of The Falcoholic, the Falcons should have around $7 million in cap space to play with after they complete their rookie deals.
The #Falcons free up over 12M in 2020 cap space by restructing Matt Ryan and Grady Jarrett contracts. @FalcoholicDW takes a look at what this means and what it could foretell for the next season https://t.co/kd0dRkU2bv pic.twitter.com/cdrsObHUgR
— The It'llbedifferentthistimeoholic (@TheFalcoholic) December 28, 2019
While these moves won't make Atlanta a significant player in free agency, it does provide them with some additional cash that will come in handy when trying to get a guy like tight end Austin Hooper signed to a long-term deal.
Expect other franchises to do some similar contract restructuring with the offseason quickly approaching.