The Falcons have held off the inevitable rebuild until now after trying to cling to relevancy ever since 2016, which has always been tied to Matt Ryan and his massively restructured contract. The former regime, led by Thomas Dimitroff, constantly restructured already-bloated contracts, so they’re certainly to blame for the situation the team is in. However, the new regime isn’t free of blame.
Since Arthur Blank announced the hires of Arthur Smith and Terry Fontenot, the entire organization has approached the job with the same motto — win now, without sacrificing the future. It would’ve been a smart approach, but the roster and its contracts didn’t warrant that kind of strategy. The answer from the get-go was to tear it down and rebuild; however, Blank clearly hired people who wanted to compete right away. Now, the rebuild is here.
The Falcons traded Matt Ryan and Julio Jones away, who had two of the largest contracts on the books. Atlanta is undoubtedly dealing with the financial ramifications of those trades as Ryan and Jones account for more than $46 million of the team’s $62 million in total dead money. It’s clear the Falcons’ 2022 season should be seen as a throwaway year. The roster just isn’t in a position, or even close, to compete. To fully commit to the rebuild, I floated the idea of trading Grady Jarrett and Deion Jones.
Even if the Falcons want to extend Jarrett, it wouldn’t make sense. He’s going to be 29-years-old by the start of the 2022 season and will undoubtedly seek a lucrative, multi-year deal. The Falcons timeline just doesn’t match up with Jarrett’s prime and contract term. The market would be robust for a player of Jarrett’s caliber, so the Falcons would be wise to cash in on the former All-Pro.
I’d argue not trading Jarrett this season and letting him walk in free agency would be grounds to put Fontenot on the hot seat. On the contrary, if Fontenot re-signs Jarrett, I’d argue the same. The Falcons are in no position to pay an interior defender $20 million AAV moving forward. Holding off on trading Jones is palatable because of the dead cap associated with the move, but both situations deserve to be explored.
However, according to Albert Breer’s latest column, the Falcons are still trying to work out a contract extension with Jarrett.
https://twitter.com/AlbertBreer/status/1508450277074079745?s=20&t=NqXib1WZh0A-DOJXmPZvxA
A contract extension for Grady Jarrett would lower his 2022 cap hit and keep him in Atlanta for the rest of his prime years, but I still don’t see the timelines aligning. The Falcons are years away from competing, and when that happens, Jarrett will likely be exiting his prime while accounting for a massive chunk of the team’s salary cap.
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