Atlanta Falcons: Keeping Matt Bryant a big bonus for club
The Atlanta Falcons have agreed with kicker Matt Bryant on a three-year extension. Bryant has been known to be one of the most clutch kickers in the NFL.
The Atlanta Falcons just had a fantastic start to their 2018 free agency.
While it does not officially begin until March 14, Atlanta has come to an agreement with Kicker Matt Bryant on a 3-year deal, per Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network.
He went on to say that Bryant will receive $2 million to sign with a base value of $10.5 million.
The #Falcons and K Matt Bryant agreed on a 3-year deal that can be worth $12M max, source said. He got $2M to sign and the base value is $10.5M.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 6, 2018
Bryant’s goal was 2-3 more years in the NFL and that he wanted to finish his career in Atlanta, per Will McFadden of AtlantaFalcons.com.
"“I am ready to play – I’ll play two-three more years in this league,” said Bryant. “There’s obviously some curious times ahead to see where those two-three years happen. You know I’d like to finish it here with this organization. I guess I have a history here, so I’d like to finish it up here.”"
Bryant has been one of the most clutch players in the NFL since his arrival in Atlanta in 2009 and is still very efffective now at the age of 42. He is the team’s all-time leading scorer and has come through in big moments.
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His most memorable one that is debated to this day is his game-winning field goal in the divisional round of the 2012 playoffs. He knocked down the go-ahead field goal that gave the Falcons the win over the Seahawks.
In the 2017 season, Bryant often bailed out the Falcons’ offense when they could not seal the deal on possessions. Atlanta would often be on 6-8 minute drives and come up short, so Bryant would come through to put some points on the board.
In the Falcons’ Week 17 finale against the Panthers and Wild Card game vs the Rams, Bryant totaled nine field goals, which earned Atlanta the win in both matchups.
Finding a clutch kicker in the NFL is a very hard task so the Falcons priortizing Matt Bryant in free agency was phenomenal work by general manager Thomas Dimitroff and his staff.
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Atlanta is still very much a Super Bowl contender heading into 2018. While Matt Ryan and the offense must return to their explosive ways of 2016, continuing to utilize Bryant to come through in the clutch late in games is essential for the team to possibly host a Super Bowl this season.