For the first time in the tenures of Arthur Smith and Terry Fontenot, the Falcons will have ample resources to build a genuinely competitive roster.
Atlanta has handed out mostly one-year deals to free agents, with a few two-year contracts trickling in. However, the Falcons have yet to sign a deal for more than two seasons; that changes this offseason.
With around $67 million in cap space, Terry Fontenot has enough funds to upgrade the entire roster. Plenty of holes are littered on the depth chart, so it might behoove the front office to target above-average starters instead of the marquee free agents that will demand considerable money.
Fontenot also seems to recognize that; the Falcons GM isn’t concerned with flashy names. “Clearly, we have a lot of cap space and, clearly, we have a lot of flexibility, but we have to be cautious,” he said, via Josh Kendall of The Athletic. “We are not trying to win a press conference. We want to make sure we are bringing in the right types of players for our building.”
The Falcons have an extremely young and malleable roster with more cap space than they’ve had in years as well as a third top ten draft pick in a row. Atlanta is finally putting the record-setting and league-leading dead cap behind them. It’s not going to be fixed this offseason, but Fontenot and the front office can make exponential improvements to the personnel.
Just because you can afford something doesn’t mean you should make the purchase; it seems simple, right? Well, teams spend cap space all time just because they have it, and it sometimes ends in bad deals.
Approaching this offseason’s free agency in the same manner as the previous two is wise. Finding value doesn’t mean the team is being cheap. The Falcons can find value at all levels of free agents — the blue chips, starters, and reserve players.
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Photographer: Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire
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