One of the moves the Falcons made to get under the salary cap was to restructure the contract of Matt Ryan. The former MVP would’ve had a cap hit north of $48 million, but by reworking his deal, the team created $12 million in cap space and Ryan is now on the books for just $36 million for the 2022 season.
The $12 million in savings was expected to all be pushed to 2023 to create a cap hit north of $50 million, but Over The Cap says otherwise. Instead of pushing it all to the 2023 season, the Falcons added three voided years to Matt Ryan’s contract.
What does this mean? It means that instead of applying all $12 million restructured money to 2023, the team was able to increase his 2023 cap hit by $3 million and spread $3 million each over the years of 2024, 2025, and 2026.
However, once Ryan becomes a free agent during the 2024 off-season (assuming he remains with the Falcons until then), all $9 million of the voided years will apply at once and account for dead money during the 2024 season. For the first time in 14 years, the Falcons have a projected set date for when the Matt Ryan era will come to a close.
The Falcons are rumored to be involved in trading for Texans QB Deshaun Watson, which didn’t seem possible before.
