Atlanta Falcons restructure Matt Ryan, put end to drafting QB in first-round

Report: Atlanta Falcons have restructured the contract of QB Matt Ryan

The Atlanta Falcons have reportedly restructured the massive deal of QB Matt Ryan to free-up cap space for the 2021 season.

First reported by WSB-TV Sports Director Zach Klein, the Atlanta Falcons restructured Ryan’s contract to take what once was a $40.9 million cap hit and make it $26.9 million.

The move saves $14 million and puts the Falcons under the cap.

While this is good for those wanting the Falcons to make some moves in free-agency- though it should be noted that the franchise still doesn’t have tons of cap space and has a lot of roster spots to fill- what this effectively means is simple: The Matt Ryan era is not ending anytime soon in Atlanta.

Atlanta Falcons won’t be drafting a quarterback in the first-round this season

The Falcons effectively made a commitment with this move that they believe they can win with Ryan.

While Ryan won’t present as much of a cap hit this year, that money will now be spread over the next two years.

That means he will still have the largest cap hit in the league next year and that effectively means the Falcons are buying time to pay him the money instead of taking the hit right now. Of course, in many ways, the cap situation was so bad that Ryan’s deal was almost always going to have to be restructured in some way just to fill the roster.

Now to the main point: You remember all of those mock drafts you saw that had the Atlanta Falcons taking a quarterback with the No. 4 overall pick? Throw them out. They’re garbage.

As we just said, the Falcons believe they can win with Matt Ryan as the quarterback.

That means the organization is going to look to put pieces around Ryan to accentuate his strengths and hide his weaknesses, at least as much as possible.

Look for the Falcons to go with a defender or potentially OT Penei Sewell with that first-round pick. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the franchise trade back and gain more draft capital as a result.

No matter what way you look at it, one thing is for sure with this restructure: The Falcons are tied to Matt Ryan for the foreseeable future and that means they’re not taking a quarterback with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.