The timing of the Atlanta Falcons' monster four-year contract extension with Drake London is no coincidence. Atlanta signed their homegrown star to a four-year, $141 million deal with $100 million in guarantees and worth up to $150 million in guarantees. And he's now under contract through 2030.
The 24-year-old will make $35.25 million per year, which seems rich, but they had to pay the price for waiting this long. And speaking of waiting, Ian Cunningham and this new Falcons' front office deciding to hold off on this deal was intentional. They wanted to get some money off the books post-June 1.
Barely lapping Justin Jefferson to him the third-highest paid receiver in the NFL on an annual basis doesn't come cheap, and it's the quarterback that London and Jefferson share that helped get this done: Kirk Cousins. The Falcons are finally done with Cousins and his release helped get this done.
The post-June 1 release of Kirk Cousins opened up the money for Drake London's new deal
The Dirty Birds already had a pretty open 2027 cap slate, but since the 37-year-old was designated as a post-June 1 release when he was cut in March, Atlanta opened up even more cap space. His release was already official, but it finally hit the books, as he saved them $45 million in cap space.
Cousins was slated to make $57.5 million both 2026 and 2027 but, the Falcons restructured the four-time Pro Bowler's four-year, $180 million contract earlier this offseason. And they did so in order to significantly decrease his 2026 cap hit, as they saved just $2.1 million in 2026 upon his release.
But in doing so, Cunningham and company added a vesting guarantee of $67.9 million if he was still on the roster by March 13, which he was not. And that's where the money in question came from since he was cut two days earlier, opening Atlanta's 2027 cap table even more than it was before.
The Falcons would've had the money to extend the USC product regardless, but waiting for the extra money to clear before starting extensions on their franchise cornerstones means they have even more flexibility in salary negotiations both with London and now with anyone else going forward.
First, Drake London had his only 1,000 receiving yards in a season where Cousins was predominantly his starting quarterback, and now it's his money coming off the books that paved the way for his extension. He better send his ex-QB a basket of muffins or a bottle of wine at this point for all he did.
Add us as a preferred source on Google