The Falcons have officially released future Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez, reports Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com (via Twitter). The move is a technicality, because Gonzalez has already announced that he is retiring and will not return to the team in 2014. Gonzalez must not have turned in his retirement paperwork, and releasing him will free up $7MM, as his upcoming salary would have still counted against the cap until he retired.
P. Schrager of Fox Sports agrees that the only reason this move was necessary must have been due to Gonzalez not officially submitting the paperwork, but notes that the team would have had to pay him a $3MM roster bonus if he was still on the roster in a few days (via Twitter).