North Gwinnett News

With quarterback Matt Ryan's salary cap hit set to be the league's largest, Falcons' brass reworked a deal to cut costs by $12 million for the 2022 season. 

The Falcons' massive contracts were a subject of conversation at this month's NFL combine; Terry Fontenot, Falcons general manager, said in a report on ESPN.com this week. Of those, Ryan's cap number had been at the forefront of discussions regarding the Falcons getting under the salary cap.

"It is a challenge," Fontenot told ESPN. "I wouldn't say it's a problem. I would say it's a challenge, something we have to work around."

This is the fourth straight year the Falcons have restructured Ryan's contract, the report said. The quarterback is under contract until after the 2023 season, when the report said his cap hit will be approximately $47 million. The deal's potential dead money at that time, however, drops to $27.6 million.

As part of the new deal, the team converted $7.5 million of Ryan's base salary and a $7.5 million roster bonus into a signing bonus, the ESPN report said.

While the team was over the salary cap last week, they now have more than $16 million in cap space after Ryan's restructure and the recent suspension of wide receiver Calvin Ridley, which reportedly took $11.1 million off Atlanta's books for the upcoming season.