Atlanta Falcons set for biggest single dead cap hit in NFL history

The Atlanta Falcons seemingly never make the NFL headlines these days for positive reasons and that is yet again the case as they deal with the fallout from trading Matt Ryan. Ryan will still account for $40-million against the Falcon’s cap despite playing for the Colts becoming the largest dead cap hit in NFL history.

It is important to point out here that Ryan’s cap number is due to the fact the quarterback kept restructuring his contract to attempt to create cap room to build a contending roster. A contending roster Atlanta was never able to put around him after their 2016 run to the Super Bowl.

You can look at Atlanta’s full cap projections here, Ryan isn’t the only massive cap hit as the team continues to deal with Julio’s contract as well. Combined Jones Ryan will account for right around $56-million against the cap speaking to the situation the Atlanta front office has created for themselves.

The Atlanta Falcons will be paying a combined $62-million in dead cap for the 2022 season

Julio Jones, Dante Fowler Jr., Matt Ryan, and Tyeler Davidson account for the majority of Atlanta’s dead cap problem leaving the Falcons with right around $8-million in projected room not accounting for Mariota leaving Atlanta with few options the rest of the off-season.

Cutting Ryan was committing to a year of rebuilding and signing Mariota was further confirmation of this. Mariota will serve as a bridge as Atlanta spends one final season in cap misery before having well over $100-million to spend next off-season.

Atlanta will have essentially fixed all of their cap woes within two seasons of moves choosing to accelerate that by painfully trading Matt Ryan. The way the Falcons opted to send Ryan out was questionable at best. However, they have set Atlanta up in a great position to chase a top quarterback and be able to chase any of the top free agents in 2023.   A small gleam of hope in what has been an off-season that seemingly could not have gone worse.