By Jordan Long
The Atlanta Falcons finished the year at 4-12, last in the NFC South Division. They own the 4th pick in the NFL Draft. Unfortunately for Atlanta, they are going to have to find a way to shred salary. With all their contracts right now, Atlanta is over the cap by around $23.216 million. The easiest way is to either trade or restructure the contracts of quarterback Matt Ryan and wide receiver Julio Jones. Ryan is a pretty decent quarterback in this league. He has only played for the Falcons. His career record is 113-92. Ryan passed for 55,767 yards with 347 touchdowns and 158 interceptions. The best part of his game is protecting the football. He won’t force it down the field.
The problem with Ryan is his cap hit. Right now, Ryan is under contract this year and there is an out after 2021. Ryan’s cap hit in 2021 is around $40.912 million. The simplest way to make it lower is to talk to him about his agreement. They could have a lower base salary and put incentives in for him to earn money back.
The Falcons want to keep their star wide receiver too in Julio Jones. Jones is their best receiver and Ryan looks for him during the game because Jones can catch any football thrown his way. Jones can also make defenders miss to make what looks to be a short gain to be large chunks of yards. Jones totaled 12,896 yards receiving in his 10 years for Atlanta, adding 60 touchdowns. His average yards per catch is an impressive 15.2.
Jones had a down year for him this past season. He had 771 yards and 3 touchdowns. It was the first time he didn’t go over the 1,000 yards receiving mark like he did the previous 6 seasons. Falcons know they need to keep Jones. His cap hit for 2021 Is around $23 million. That is a lot for him.
Owner Author Blank would like to keep both of them. According to profootballtalk.nbcsports.com, Blank said “I’d be shocked, completely shocked if he is not. It really has nothing to do with his contract. Matt has played at a very high level for us since 2008 when we drafted him. Matt can still play at a very high level so we expect him to be a Falcon next year, fully. Same question was raised regarding Julio Jones and we expect Julio to be a Falcon next year and play at a very high level as well. . . . They’ll both be with us.”
It will come down to can the Falcons restructure both of their deals for them to stay. If not the Falcons may have to trade one of them. It is difficult to say which one should be gone because they are both valuable to this franchise. Jones may make the most sense. He is one of the top 5 wide receivers in the game but the trade value could be too hard to pass up. The Falcons can always draft one to fill his shoes. The Falcons will need to do something to help them with cap space for 2021 even if it is dealing one of these two stars.
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