Big contracts make it tough for the Atlanta Falcons to rebuild

After the Atlanta Falcons lost their ninth game of the season over the weekend, the idea of a rebuild is something that fans can no longer ignore.

After the Atlanta Falcons lost their ninth game of the season over the weekend, the idea of a rebuild is something that fans can no longer ignore.

That was the hot topic on Atlanta sports radio Monday morning and will continue being the hot topic as the Falcons get into the advanced stages of hiring their next head coach and general manager.

However, the contracts of quarterback Matt Ryan and wide receiver Julio Jones, which take up a combined 36 percent of the team’s salary cap space in 2021, make it tough for a rebuild to take place.

“The quickest way to close a window,” said Andy Bunker of 92.9 The Game, “is giving out bad contracts. Unfortunately, there looks like there are some bad contracts on this team.”

It’s easy to justify Ryan and Jones getting new contracts as both were playing at high levels and formerly top-10 draft picks.

However, having a player like Dante Fowler eat up a large portion of cap space limits how much the team can spend in the offseason to build around Ryan and Jones. Fowler has an $18 million cap hit in 2021 and has just two sacks this season, a massive decrease from the 11.5 he recorded with the Rams in 2019. With three games to go, it’s likely he will end the season with career lows in sacks, solo tackles and tackles for a loss.

“A lot of times when you give a contract, you cannot foresee what’s going to happen after the contract,” said Bunker’s co-host, Randy McMichael.

If you combine the contracts of Grady Jarrett, Deion Jones, Jake Matthews, Jones and Ryan, they account for 66 percent of the 2021 cap total and would be nearly impossible to move going into the offseason. This percentage goes even higher — up to 77 percent — when you include Fowler.

With the Falcons being $25 million above the projected cap in 2021, the team will make the necessary moves to get out of the red, but won’t be able to move on from Fowler until 2022 at the least.

Cutting safety Ricardo Allen, DL Allen Bailey OL James Carpenter, and possibly more would likely help Atlanta get out of the red. To the displeasure of some Falcons fans, though, Ryan won’t see his way out of Atlanta until 2023 at the earliest when the cap savings are higher than the potential dead money.

Many analysts and fans alike are projecting the Falcons to select a QB with their first pick. However, it could be more beneficial to trade back and select someone who can get the run game going or go for a game-changer, like Micah Parsons, on the defensive side of the ball.

On the season, the Falcons are 0-6 when the team totals less than 90 yards rushing. The lack of a run game has been detrimental to the Falcons over the past three seasons due to injuries and RB Devonta Freeman falling flat after getting his big contract extension in 2017. At the time, Freeman’s new contract was the highest for any running back in league history.

Randy McMichael even echoed this sentiment saying, “Matt Ryan needs a run game more than ever. When you ask him to sit back there and wing it around and try to win the football game, you might get some good results, but a lot of the times you will get the results you got [Sunday].”

Watch the full clip via 92.9 The Game’s Twitter.

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