Vaughn Mcclure of ESPN broke late Wednesday night that the Falcons are planning on retaining Vic Beasley for next season.
Quinn told ESPN, “I’m very excited about where I think he can go to, and we’ve had good conversations about the impact that he can make.” Quinn believes – as Beasley has shown for glimpses every year – that the Clemson product is capable of being the player they envisioned when drafting him in the top ten of the 2015 draft. It’s all about doing it more consistently.
The Falcons coach, who is heading into his fifth year with the team, also said, “But if I didn’t think that he could do it, I wouldn’t [commit],” when talking about how Beasley can regain his 2016 form.
With the focus now off of whether Beasley will be with the team next season, it shifts to his contract. His fifth-year option is scheduled to pay him $12.81 million, which will put him near the top ten at his position. The Athletic’s Jeff Schultz has hinted towards Beasley staying in Atlanta at a restructured number.
Although, this excerpt from Mcclure’s piece appears to squash that possibility as well.
“Quinn is well aware that Beasley’s ’19 salary of $12.81 million becomes fully guaranteed on March 13, the first day of the new league year. He said he sees the team committing to that salary for Beasley, which also would equate to Beasley’s cap number for ’19, but he wouldn’t commit to signing Beasley to a long-term extension before seeing how he performs this coming season.”
Retaining Beasley for 2019 is not a shock. The Falcons were already thin at defensive end in 2018 and have already released Brooks Reed. Steven Means and Takk McKinley remain the only other defensive end options on the roster. Parting ways with Beasley would have left a gaping hole for the Falcons to fill at the position, something that wouldn’t have been easy to fix considering the other needs that exist such as the offensive line, defensive tackle, and cornerback.
The eye-opener is keeping him at his current number. It’s unlikely Beasley could touch his current 2019 cap number on the open market. That’s in the Carlos Dunlap range – who signed for an AAV of $13.55 million in 2018.
Beasley is no Carlos Dunlap. At least, he hasn’t shown he can be that player often enough. That’s not to say some team would not overpay based on his physical attributes and flashes of spectacular play, but in all likelihood, Beasley would be taking a significant discount by hitting free agency.
We will see if the organization is able to reduce that number by March 13th – when his contract becomes fully guaranteed.