Interesting Falcon stat

[Leeroy Jenkins Ph.D.]

While a lot is made of the Saints currently being 64 million over the cap, the Falcons are currently 11 million over the cap and only have 39 players on their roster....

[Sgt Schultz]

That came up in some other random thread a few days ago.  The Falcons have a lot of money tied up in relatively few players.  2022 is not great for them, either.  If people just look at the cap space numbers, they look okay.  Then you look at how many players are making up their cap number, and they have some work to do. 

Spotrac has them at 26th in terms of "top 51 cap" for 2021.  Not great, but not panic mode.  But, their "top 51" is composed of 39 players.  They are probably only ahead of the Saints and the Eagles in terms of the actual cap condition.  The Eagles woes are due to a lot of dead cap, almost all of it tied to Wentz.

So, they have to add players to get to 51 despite their cap deficit, they have fewer players to maneuver to get cap relief, and they have a couple that even when their dead cap is surpassed by their cap hit staying on the roster, the dead cap is still enough to choke a horse.  It is a heck of a mess in Atlanta.

[Moo Daeng]

One could argue they cant spend a draft pick on a QB at this point. Though maybe Fontenot will bring the Saints cap magic 

[joemac]

I cannot believe the NFL is going to lower the cap like that after one down year, which no one on the planet can be held responsible for.  Are they not sitting on billions of dollars of cash?  Can't they keep the cap normal for one freaking year, so that 75% of the teams in the league don't have to scramble to get under for just one season until it shoots right back up higher than ever before?  It just makes no sense to me....

[PootieNunu]

7 minutes ago, joemac said:

I cannot believe the NFL is going to lower the cap like that after one down year, which no one on the planet can be held responsible for.  Are they not sitting on billions of dollars of cash?  Can't they keep the cap normal for one freaking year, so that 75% of the teams in the league don't have to scramble to get under for just one season until it shoots right back up higher than ever before?  It just makes no sense to me....

They could do something like borrow from future years to even it out, but if they do that why have a cap at all? Lets bail all these teams out who assumed the cap would continue to rise every year. That way those teams can continue to add a couple of pieces to try to compete for a super bowl and kick the can down the road awhile longer. 

 

[Moo Daeng]

10 minutes ago, joemac said:

I cannot believe the NFL is going to lower the cap like that after one down year, which no one on the planet can be held responsible for.  Are they not sitting on billions of dollars of cash?  Can't they keep the cap normal for one freaking year, so that 75% of the teams in the league don't have to scramble to get under for just one season until it shoots right back up higher than ever before?  It just makes no sense to me....

The teams are the one's who want the salary cap to drop because they don't want to lose money. The players are the ones who want it to be higher as they want new contracts to go up.

[Captain Morgan]

Falcons have 122 million in cap space this year wrapped up in 5 players.  That is stunning.  Remember, the cap will be somewhere between 180 to 188 mill, and they'll have 122 in just 5 players.

Add in D Jones at 12 mill, and that is 134 million in 6 players.

Edited February 19, 2021 by Captain Morgan

[Snake]

That reason alone may be why they are looking for a new QB. Getting Ryan off the balance sheet might be a priority. 

[PootieNunu]

1 minute ago, Snake said:

That reason alone may be why they are looking for a new QB. Getting Ryan off the balance sheet might be a priority. 

How? if they cut him they will have 49 million in dead cap.

[Snake]

2 minutes ago, PootieNunu said:

How? if they cut him they will have 49 million in dead cap.

I was more pointing to a trade. Plenty of teams would give up multiple firsts for Ryan. 

[PootieNunu]

Just now, Snake said:

I was more pointing to a trade. Plenty of teams would give up multiple firsts for Ryan. 

Multiple firsts for Ryan? I don't see it

[joemac]

28 minutes ago, PootieNunu said:

They could do something like borrow from future years to even it out, but if they do that why have a cap at all? Lets bail all these teams out who assumed the cap would continue to rise every year. That way those teams can continue to add a couple of pieces to try to compete for a super bowl and kick the can down the road awhile longer. 

 

They don't even have to do anything like that.  Just keep the cap at the current level.  Don't take it down 20-30 mil just for one year - only to have it go up by like 50 mil next year.

[joemac]

7 minutes ago, Snake said:

I was more pointing to a trade. Plenty of teams would give up multiple firsts for Ryan. 

They would still be on the hook for a ton of dead cap even if they trade him.

[PootieNunu]

2 minutes ago, joemac said:

They don't even have to do anything like that.  Just keep the cap at the current level.  Don't take it down 20-30 mil just for one year - only to have it go up by like 50 mil next year.

So who is paying that extra cash? The cap is based off revenue. They cant just pull the money out of thin air.

Should they make the richest owners foot the bill?