The Atlanta Falcons cap space is fixable by doing this in 2022

There has been a lot made about how the Atlanta Falcons are in “salary cap hell” currently, and in the near future, however, the situation is fixable with a variety of moves that can be made.

Not to mention, if there is anyone who can get a team out of a dire salary cap situation, it is Terry Fontenot, who came from an organization in the Saints who annually suffer from money issues, but they always seem to get out of it.

There are a few moves the Falcons can make to ease the salary cap situation

As mentioned before, fans tend to panic when they take a look at their team’s salary cap for the upcoming year, but there is always a way that the front office can manage it, certainly, Atlanta is no different.

First off, all of this data is courtesy of Spotrac.com.

According to them, the Falcons have an estimated $14.7 million in cap space for next season. At the very least, as of now, they are not starting off in the negative.

Now let’s take a look at some of the potential moves that Terry Fontenot could make to increase that number.

At the top of the list is Matt Ryan, who has a cap hit of about $48 million, which is a little much for any player in the NFL if we are being honest. That is nearing 25% of the estimated cap number for the team in 2022.

So what are the options? The most logical answer would be to extend him, which would spread out that number over the years, reducing the hit for 2022. If that does not end up happening, then at the very least they could restructure his contract which would drop his cap hit by just over ten million.

The next major move could be trading Calvin Ridley. This is the only way out of paying Ridley the $11 million he is owed in the final year of his contract, and it would instantly clear up that amount of money.

Then comes Deion Jones and his expensive contract. Basically, the only thing there is to do is restructure it, which would save about six million.

After that comes the cuts to veteran players. A few names to keep an eye on are Tyeler Davison, Mike Davis, and possibly Keith Smith.

Cutting the combination of the three of them would save just under eight million.

If Atlanta were to restructure Matt Ryan and Deion Jones, trade Calvin Ridley, and cut Davison, Davis, and Smith, they would have an estimated $49 million in cap space. That most definitely is not a ton, but it solves a lot of problems.

Also keep in mind that these are only the basic moves, extending Matt Ryan and Grady Jarrett would yield a lot more than the amounts listed above.

All in all, Terry Fontenot does not have the easiest road in the NFL, but it is far from impossible.