A part of the ongoing saga surrounding the trade for Texans quarterback, Deshaun Watson is what the Falcons will do with Matt Ryan. Of course, if a trade were to happen and Watson were to land in Atlanta, then this means Ryan’s 14-year run as the starting QB is over.
While it was reported that a restructured deal had been agreed to, it has yet to be finalized and could be off the table if need be. Where things stand today, Ryan has a $40.5 million cap hit, but his roster bonus of $7.5 million will kick in tomorrow, making his cap hit for 2022 $48 million.
Cap charge if the Falcons trade Matt Ryan today: $40.525 million.
Cap charge if the Falcons trade Matt Ryan after today and before June 1: $48.025 million.— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) March 17, 2022
Moving Ryan will always be difficult, but even more difficult with the added $7.5 million. If Ryan were to be traded today, the team would see a net cap gain of $7.5 million (current dead cap minus cap hit). The other team would be responsible for Ryan’s roster bonus.
This would also affect the dead cap if a trade were to happen after June 1. If Watson does land in Atlanta, or Ryan becomes too disgruntled with the Falcons organization, then a move could still be on the table for the veteran quarterback, and one that would most likely occur after June 1.
Trading after June 1 would see the increase of $7.5 million and incur a dead cap cost of $24 million for this season and next (dead cap is split between two seasons after June 1st). This would see a cap savings of about $24 million in 2022 and about $19 million in savings for 2023, per Spotrac.
