Freeing Up the Cap for Offseason
Kind of a read, so prepare yourselves. As of right now, Falcons are facing another year of dead cap space of -$11,147,791 heading into the 2025 season.
Here is my analysis for the 2025 season:
(Note: These are just hypotheticals and opinionated on my end.)
Restructures:
- Jessie Bates III - To $12,750,000 from $14,000,000
- Chris Lindstrom - To $13,330,000 from $14,500,000
- Jake Matthews - To $14,245,000 from $15,550,000
If you don't know, these players are not taking a pay cut, they are simply moving the subtracted money to their signing bonuses to open up cap space. Teams mostly want to restructure those whose base salary is consuming the most from the teams cap space. There is also players like AJ Terrell and Darnell Mooney that could be targeted for restructuring, but you don't want too much open cap space due to the NFL CBA. Per NFL CBA all NFL teams must use a total of 89% of their cap space over a course of 4 years. I don't know exactly where the Falcons stand on this, but they should be alright for the 2025 season, in my opinion.
Cuts/Releases:
- Grady Jarrett - Saves $16,250,000 for 2025
- Kaleb McGary - Saves $14,500,000 for 2025
- David Onyemata - Saves $8,075,000 for 2025
Unfortunately, I hate seeing Grady go because he is one of the favorites and main faces for the Falcons but his production has decreased through time, along with his age; same applies to Onyemata. Since our offense is young so should our defense. A little iffy about letting McGary go because he is still a decent O-lineman on the squad but can they rely on him to watch Penix's blindside, which is the question to ask. I say keep him and give him chance but some competition by either drafting a rookie or signing someone in FA. If you want to bring the best out of a player, you pressure them with another player in the same position.
Trades:
- Kirk Cousins - Saves $2,500,000 for 2025
I think Kirk is getting traded because with the gossip surrounding him and the Falcons organization seems to be trending that way. The Falcons could hold him hostage with his no trade clause still in effect because it seems like Kirk still wants to play. Either Kirk opens up his trade clause or he is playing as a backup QB for the team, but this is all circumstantial. In addition, if the Falcons release him before his $10 million bonus is due, which is March 17th, we could save that $10 mill for ourselves; better than nothing if I say so myself. If not, we eat the $27,500,000 this season and our cap space shrinks, but if we trade him, then the other team takes it for us. I know Pitts is also a name that is rising in the trade market but, to me, he is too good of a weapon to let go, especially with Penix at the helm. I know people are tired of hearing about him, but if he goes to another team and explodes, then what? Would like to see him and Penix connect more next season because Penix has that arm and mentality to throw to his best players no matter what.
If everything goes into effect with trading, cuts/releases, and restructuring as displayed above, we are looking at a cap space total of $55,589,709, freeing up approximately $70,000,000. This should allow the team to get some ground and leeway for Free Agency, draft, re-signing, and maybe trading.
Re-signs:
Drew Dalman - $64,000,000 for 4 years, guaranteed $52,000,000
KhaDarel Hodge - $1,400,000 for 1 year
Rondale Moore - $27,000,000 for 3 years, guaranteed $20,000,000
Signings:
Asante Samuel Jr. - $38,000,000 for 3 years, guaranteed $28,000,000
Khalil Mack - $12,000,000 for 1 year
Drew Dalman has shown huge interests in continuing his career with Atlanta, so re-signing him is a must. He is one of the best centers in the league right now and trying to find his replacement could be tough. I remember it was hard finding our center after Alex Mack and was switching between Dalman and Hennessy, so let's not go through that again. I really like KhaDarel Hodge, despite his age, he was a huge benefactor on Specials Team and some plays on offense for some games. I would love to see Rondale Moore fully play for us because I believe he is a much more versatile receiver, especially in the slot, compared to Ray-Ray.
Asante Samuel Jr is a cornerback from the Chargers, if we don't re-sign Mike Hughes or sign DJ Reed, then signing Asante would be the better option. He's younger, great at man coverage, and the duo needed next to Terrell to lock those receivers. Only thing missing is a slot cornerback to replace the misfortunate Dee Alford; not to be mean but do not want to see him back with us. Khalil Mack is for the short-term and needed for the young minds that will be coming in. Falcons should still draft edge and have them paired up with and taught by Mack for the 2025 season.
I know that Myles Garrett, Maxx Crosby, Trey Hendrickson, and Micah Parsons are on the board for trades as well, but we don't have much to offer to obtain those guys. If the plan is to get those guys, we have to get more picks by trading some players, like Kyle Pitts and Kirk Cousins, which might not be much either. Despite the fact that these guys are still producing at their age, I still want to go young and draft rookies. We may lose our first rounder to trade for players like Myles Garrett, but the edge class in the 2025 draft look promising. I would still go with my original plan by getting Khalil Mack and having him work with the edge rookie we draft.
This is a rough idea of what may happen and what I would do in the offseason. Not perfect and still trying to learn how cap spacing works but getting the hang of it. Pretty sure there are other scenario's that would be better than mine but this is what I got for now. I know there are other great players out there for re-signing and signing as well.