Atlanta has gotten under the salary cap just ahead of the start of the new league year. They’ve done it in part by restructuring the contract of Matt Ryan, Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com writes. Zach Klein of WSB was first to tweet the news.
Atlanta converted $21MM of Ryan’s $23MM base salary for this upcoming season and turned it into a signing bonus to spread it out over the duration of his contract, which runs through 2023. The move knocked Ryan’s 2021 cap number down about $14MM, Rothstein writes.
As he points out, this isn’t breaking any new ground, as this is the third time Ryan’s contract has been restructured. The move allows the Falcons to get under the cap for now, and also could be indicative that they have Ryan in their long-term plans.
There had been some speculation the team would look to move on before too long, but this restructure makes it a lot harder to get out of his contract. He’ll now have a dead cap number north of $40MM in 2022. Ryan will turn 36 in May, and new coach Arthur Smith has insisted he isn’t planning on blowing things up. This move would be consistent with that.
seriously whats the point of the Cap?!…the Taysom Hill contract is another great example of it’s pointlessness
it’s ridiculous lol
Restructuring deals just shows teams have found a loophole in the salary cap. I would of thought Ryan was heading to San Francisco.
This should mean the Falcons do not reach for an overrated QB in the first. No sense to take one and make him ride the bench and then be hampered by cap issues for the ‘cheap’ service years.
Go all in and get Ryan help in the draft at a position that generally pays immediate dividends. Edge, corner, LB or … … a REAL running back. Not a third or fourth round flyer.
Knowing the Falcons, they will draft a QB in round one despite knowing they have no chance of getting away from Ryan for two years.