The Falcons were able to unload Matt Ryan, but they’re probably a couple years away from being competitive. They’ve got substantial cap issues they need to work through before they’ll be able to do much in free agency.
Ryan may be gone, but he’s still counting $40.5 million against their cap. And the Falcons still haven’t cleared Julio Jones off their books; he’s still counting for $15.5 million. There are only five players with dead cap figures over $15 million, and the Falcons are the only team with two of them.
Atlanta also has Dante Fowler, who’s longer with them, counting at $4.6 million. (All dead-cap figures come from OverTheCap.com).
| DEAD CONTRACTS OF $6 MILLION-PLUS | |
|---|---|
| Player | Cap charge |
| Matt Ryan, Atl. | $40,525,000 |
| Russell Wilson, Sea. | $26,000,000 |
| Khalil Mack, Chi. | $24,000,000 |
| Deshaun Watson, Hou. | $16,200,000 |
| Julio Jones, Atl. | $15,500,000 |
| Terron Armstead, N.O. | $12,981,324 |
| Zach Cunningham, Hou. | $12,832,500 |
| Trey Flowers, Det. | $12,112,376 |
| Robert Woods, LAR | $11,900,000 |
| Drew Brees, N.O. | $11,500,000 |
| ZaDarius Smith, G.B. | $11,424,443 |
| Anthony Barr, Min. | $10,800,000 |
| Ben Roethlisberger, Pitt. | $10,340,000 |
| Joe Schobert, Jac. | $9,937,500 |
| Malik Jackson, Phil. | $9,033,000 |
| Matt Paradis, Car. | $8,293,334 |
| Yannick Ngakoue, L.V. | $8,000,000 |
| Derek Barnett, Phil. | $7,248,800 |
| Ali Marpet, T.B. | $7,150,000 |
| Whitney Mercilus, Hou. | $7,000,000 |
| Ndamukong Suh, T.B. | $6,800,000 |
| Jaylon Smith, Dall. | $6,800,000 |
| Jamie Collins, Det. | $6,333,334 |
| C.J. Henderson, Jac. | $6,240,432 |
| Shelby Harris, Den. | $6,000,000 |
| JaWuan James, Den. | $6,000,000 |
| Amari Cooper, Dall. | $6,000,000 |
If we total up all dead-cap charges for all teams, Atlanta comes in last, with $62 million going to players who aren’t even on the roster. Three are other teams are over $40 million, and they’ve all traded away big-time players in the last two weeks: Houston (Deshaun Watson), Chicago (Khalil Mack) and Seattle (Russell Wilson).
Three teams are under $3 million in dead-cap money, and they’re all modest teams that missed the playoffs last year: Jets, Dolphins, Commanders.
In the chart below, I notice that all eight teams in the NFC North and NFC South divisions are in the bottom 14. In both of those divisions, you’ve got one good team (Bucs, Packers) and three others that are trying to regroup.
| DEAD CAP TOTALS | |
|---|---|
| Team | Dead money |
| NY Jets | $1,551,125 |
| Miami | $1,660,066 |
| Washington | $2,452,996 |
| LA Chargers | $3,661,390 |
| San Francisco | $5,167,726 |
| Arizona | $5,899,577 |
| Kansas City | $6,532,236 |
| Indianapolis | $6,813,072 |
| Baltimore | $7,348,660 |
| NY Giants | $8,018,959 |
| New England | $8,963,990 |
| Tennessee | $8,968,902 |
| Cincinnati | $9,609,245 |
| Cleveland | $12,398,055 |
| LA Rams | $13,483,999 |
| Denver | $14,925,634 |
| Buffalo | $16,601,453 |
| Dallas | $17,724,104 |
| Tampa Bay | $19,433,241 |
| Detroit | $20,278,162 |
| Carolina | $22,088,951 |
| Minnesota | $22,999,562 |
| Jacksonville | $23,059,664 |
| Las Vegas | $23,317,447 |
| Green Bay | $24,624,944 |
| Pittsburgh | $25,927,424 |
| New Orleans | $29,384,318 |
| Philadelphia | $36,454,161 |
| Seattle | $44,584,057 |
| Chicago | $45,182,095 |
| Houston | $51,776,596 |
| Atlanta | $62,097,438 |
—Ian Allan