Will the Atlanta Falcons trade DT Grady Jarrett?

The Falcons have turned over their roster ever since the new regime took over the last offseason.

Terry Fontenot has made it his mission to lower their salary cap in the next few years. That is ever so evident with the recent trade of franchise quarterback, Matt Ryan, for a third-round pick. It was not a lot in return for such a great player but it was more of a contract dump for Terry Fontenot. Will the Falcons continue this trend by trading away defensive tackle Grady Jarrett?

There is still a chance that Grady Jarrett will not return for the Falcons

It was widely reported that when the Atlanta Falcons were pursuing Deshaun Watson that Grady Jarrett could end up being a part of the blockbuster trade. We all know the end result of that saga, but do not count out the possibility that Jarrett has played his last snap for the Falcons.

We will start with Grady’s contract details and how much the team would save by trading him away.

Jarrett enters the last year of his 4-year contract, he will earn a base salary of $16.5 million with a cap hit of $23.8 million. He currently has the largest cap hit among active players for the Falcons.

There is no difference in details between the Falcons trading him prior to or post-June 1. Both will have a dead cap charge of $7.3 million with $16.5 million in cap savings.

Trading him would just add to the Falcons’ already historic number when it comes to dead cap, but you cannot deny the savings that they would incur.

While Grady did not exactly have his best season as a pro, he was in the first year of a new scheme and he still was easily the Falcons’ best defensive lineman.

Where comes the question is when you talk about compensation. If Atlanta gets an offer for a first-round pick, they should certainly take that, but they are not likely to get that high of a draft pick. Anything less than that they really need to weigh the pros and cons.

Grady will be entering the last season of his contract and if the team has no intention to extend him, then they need to trade him for what they can get. The Falcons will probably not be competitive this season, so there is no reason to keep him around for a throw-away season.

To sum it all up, it all comes down to the Falcons’ plan to extend him or not, if they are planning on keeping him around then you only take a trade that is higher than your expectations, if they are not keeping him around then they need to get whatever they can out of him.