Falcons restructure LB Deion Jones contract for second time

At the end of March, the Falcons restructured Deion Jones’s contract for the first time. “He was due $8.2 million in base salary this year but agreed to defer $4 million of that to the 2022 regular season in exchange for his 2022 base salary fully guaranteed. Jones now has a $4 million fully guaranteed roster bonus in March 2022 — paid out over the course of the 2022 regular season — on top of his fully guaranteed $9.64 million base salary for 2022.”

The move created $4 million in cap space, but the Falcons have once again converted around $4 million of his base into a bonus, which creates just under $3 million in cap space — around $8 million total in restructures and around $7 million in total cap savings.

Per @FieldYates, the Falcons converted $4,172,353 of Deion Jones’ 2021 compensation into a bonus, creating $2.782 million in cap space.

Gives Terry Fontenot a little bit more room to work if he needs it.

— Michael Rothstein (@mikerothstein) September 9, 2021

The first thing I thought of when I heard this news was how obvious the Falcons don’t want to restructure Grady Jarrett‘s contract. The staff obviously sees Debo in the team’s plans until his contract expires, comforting the former LSU Tiger. He’s a captain of this team and a leader of the defense.

Interestingly enough, the new regime hadn’t approached Jarrett about a contract extension earlier in the offseason. Jarrett’s current contract was signed in July of 2019 that extended him four years, totaling $68 million, making him the third highest-paid defensive tackle in the league at that time. He is now in the second to last year of that deal with a cap hit slightly north of $20 million, the second-highest cap hit for the Falcons this year — behind Matt Ryan.

A max restructure would’ve created $6.75 million in cap space, carrying cap hits of $20.83 million in 2021 and $23.83 million in 2022. There is plenty of time to get a deal done that Terry Fontenot approves, which I believe is the reason for the delay on the restructure or extension. The front office wants to get Jarrett an extension done under their terms without restructuring his deal.