The Extensions/Restructures/Hooper

[stingbee]

Here is my brief take on what will happen with some of main players. I don’t see Cap being an issue when you can manipulate the cap in many ways...

Restructures: 

Alex Mack: This is a no-brainer and he will be retained. We will extend him for 1 or 2 years bringing his cap hit to about $3-4 mil. He will get a signing bonus. He is too important for the line and he is still a top 5 center. He is a leader and a mentor for the OL. He is the anchor of that OL.

Hooper: He is too important for the Falcons and Matty Ice. They have worked too hard to just finish the relationship. He is Matty’s 3rd main target and an important asset for the vertical game. We lost Sanu, and Hooper became even more important. They will sign him for 4-5 years and keep his cap hit lower the first 2-3 season. 
 

Trufant: He plays an important position and he has been solid when healthy. He will be extended to lower his cap hit. The dead money associated with his contract is too much to just cut him. This also makes trading him much harder. As a business decision and as a player, it doesn’t make sense to cut him. He will be kept. I expect his cap hit will be lowered to about 4-5 mil this year and with slight increases for the upcoming seasons. He will be extended for 1 or 2 more seasons where you could cut him in 2 years without a lot of dead money. 

Julio Jones new contract could be tweaked and adding more cap relieve this year. They have the flexibility to get some cap relieve.

Deion Jones: They could restructure his contract to get some cap relieve. This will allow the Falcons to keep Neal. This is another no-brainer and will get the Falcons another 2-3 mil in cap relieve.

Freeman: He will be either traded or cut. He is not the same player, but he is still serviceable. He is a decent player who could help a team that needs a veteran RB that can be effective when healthy. 
 

Vic Beasley: They could bring him back with an incentive contract. His base salary could be around 5-6 million, but with incentives for performance. They could sign him for 2-3 years and still cut him without much dead money. He knows the system and Quinn has spent a lot of his time grooming the player. He is a good situational player and someone wants to stay here. He became more effective when they defense made adjustments after the bye week. Otherwise, he will be playing somewhere else. 
 

Neal: This is a little bit complicated and an unfortunate situation. But, Neal is a player that the Falcons desire. They could keep him and even sign him with a new contract that lowers his $6 million cap hit for the 5th year option. They could lower his cap hit by another 2-3 million. Neal knows that he has no leverage due to his injuries, but he is a good player and a leader. They will monitor his progress and make a decision. But, I doubt they will just let him walk because he is good when healthy. The Falcons could keep him here for much longer with a cap friendly contract for another 4-5 years.

OL: We could see 2-3 cuts here to bring additional cap relieve, but with some dead money. They could draft one OL via the draft and one via free agency.  

With all of these restructures, extensions or cuts, the Falcons could easily add cap relieve and keep the core intact. Hooper will be kept and it is not even that complicated.

We will make some additional cuts around secondary players. Campbell could be added back with a very affordable contract and Clayborn as well. Those contracts are affordable and makes sense. 
 

The draft should give the Falcons at least 3-4 players who could be part of the active roster and filling important holes on the roster.
 

Thomas is very good as a GM in keeping the core players and tweaking the contracts. I see the Falcons getting very creative this season.

 

 

 

 

[FalconFanSince1970]

I wouldn't restructure Mack or Tru. The 2021 cap table already looks dubious.

[stingbee]

Just now, FalconFanSince1970 said:

I wouldn't restructure Mack or Tru. The 2021 cap table already looks dubious.

Mack is too important to cut him. They need him him and he is still good. 2021 will be dealt when it becomes an issue a year from now. 

[LouDog]

Mack isn't bad but he isn't a top 5 center anymore either

[FalconFanSince1970]

28 minutes ago, stingbee said:

Mack is too important to cut him. They need him him and he is still good. 2021 will be dealt when it becomes an issue a year from now. 

That's what yall said about 2020 in 2019. 

[Gold4425]

I want to keep Mack. If we restructure all those guys won't we be in Cap basement for the next 2-3 years?

[PokerSteve]

48 minutes ago, LouDog said:

Mack isn't bad but he isn't a top 5 center anymore either

Agree. We need his replacement ready. He's been an elite center, but he looks to be at the stage where he might be completely out of gas half-way through next season. He looked pretty spent last half of this season.

[Francis York Morgan]

Can't keep everyone AND fix holes in FA. Gotta prioritize and let certain players go. Beli's often the example, but that's for good reason...it's a model that leads to sustained success.

Extend Mack, trade Tru, and don't restructure other players. Cut Free and some other players (Carpenter, Stocker, Bailey, Sambrailo etc). We'll have plenty of space and relatively few holes to deal with in FA and it doesn't hamper 2021 and onward as terribly.

[1989Fan]

I would keep Tru another year, but could see trading him too if the team was prepared to use another pick on a CB.

the rest, I agree. I would definitely add 1-2 years to Mack. He is still a good center, and his ability to call the line assignments And make adjustments based on the D is valuable.

I would try to trade Free and cut Sambrailo and Carpenter just to open up the spots. Stocker can go, as can Bailey...but I have an odd feeling Bailey will be retained.

[RoddyWhite84]

2 hours ago, stingbee said:

Here is my brief take on what will happen with some of main players. I don’t see Cap being an issue when you can manipulate the cap in many ways...

Restructures: 

Alex Mack: This is a no-brainer and he will be retained. We will extend him for 1 or 2 years bringing his cap hit to about $3-4 mil. He will get a signing bonus. He is too important for the line and he is still a top 5 center. He is a leader and a mentor for the OL. He is the anchor of that OL.

Hooper: He is too important for the Falcons and Matty Ice. They have worked too hard to just finish the relationship. He is Matty’s 3rd main target and an important asset for the vertical game. We lost Sanu, and Hooper became even more important. They will sign him for 4-5 years and keep his cap hit lower the first 2-3 season. 
 

Trufant: He plays an important position and he has been solid when healthy. He will be extended to lower his cap hit. The dead money associated with his contract is too much to just cut him. This also makes trading him much harder. As a business decision and as a player, it doesn’t make sense to cut him. He will be kept. I expect his cap hit will be lowered to about 4-5 mil this year and with slight increases for the upcoming seasons. He will be extended for 1 or 2 more seasons where you could cut him in 2 years without a lot of dead money. 

Julio Jones new contract could be tweaked and adding more cap relieve this year. They have the flexibility to get some cap relieve.

Deion Jones: They could restructure his contract to get some cap relieve. This will allow the Falcons to keep Neal. This is another no-brainer and will get the Falcons another 2-3 mil in cap relieve.

Freeman: He will be either traded or cut. He is not the same player, but he is still serviceable. He is a decent player who could help a team that needs a veteran RB that can be effective when healthy. 
 

Vic Beasley: They could bring him back with an incentive contract. His base salary could be around 5-6 million, but with incentives for performance. They could sign him for 2-3 years and still cut him without much dead money. He knows the system and Quinn has spent a lot of his time grooming the player. He is a good situational player and someone wants to stay here. He became more effective when they defense made adjustments after the bye week. Otherwise, he will be playing somewhere else. 
 

Neal: This is a little bit complicated and an unfortunate situation. But, Neal is a player that the Falcons desire. They could keep him and even sign him with a new contract that lowers his $6 million cap hit for the 5th year option. They could lower his cap hit by another 2-3 million. Neal knows that he has no leverage due to his injuries, but he is a good player and a leader. They will monitor his progress and make a decision. But, I doubt they will just let him walk because he is good when healthy. The Falcons could keep him here for much longer with a cap friendly contract for another 4-5 years.

OL: We could see 2-3 cuts here to bring additional cap relieve, but with some dead money. They could draft one OL via the draft and one via free agency.  

With all of these restructures, extensions or cuts, the Falcons could easily add cap relieve and keep the core intact. Hooper will be kept and it is not even that complicated.

We will make some additional cuts around secondary players. Campbell could be added back with a very affordable contract and Clayborn as well. Those contracts are affordable and makes sense. 
 

The draft should give the Falcons at least 3-4 players who could be part of the active roster and filling important holes on the roster.
 

Thomas is very good as a GM in keeping the core players and tweaking the contracts. I see the Falcons getting very creative this season.

 

 

 

 

As long has the first wave of cuts start with jermon brown and James carpenter idc..get this garbage off my team plz.

[FormerFan-RobertAP]

No point in restructuring Mack unless you want to give him another back-loaded payday.  He's not worth the 10 million, but he's also not worth extending for 6 million a year. (I doubt he's going to just let us push half the money to next year with no incentive)  Let him finish the contract and draft his replacement (Biadasz) this year.  (Let Biadasz play LG this year)

No one's going to trade for Free.  We overpaid, and then got burned by injury.  Gotta cut him loose.  Might re-sign him at league minimum, or close to it.

Let Hoop walk.  We don't need to have 30% of our salary cap tied up in 3 players on one side of the ball.  (Ryan, Jones, Hoop)  Besides, we have Graham waiting in the wings.  Graham might actually be better given more playing time.  (Remember, great QB's make their receivers better, and Ryan has had a clear track record of doing this)

Trufant spends too much time hurt to warrant his contract.  Same as Neal.  Cut them both loose.  Perhaps re-sign or re-structure them to incentives based contracts.

Beasley's out of here.  Can't afford to pay him.  Someone's probably going to take a chance on him.  (If I'm wrong, re-sign him to an incentives based contract.  (he seems to have some motivation issues))

 

Draft should focus on DL, OL, and Secondary.  I like AJ Epenesa in the first, and Tyler Biadasz with our second pick.  (Might have to move up for Biadasz)  After that, go for DB's and LB's.  We can grab another RB, TE, or WR in the later rounds.

[FormerFan-RobertAP]

One other thing...  If we let Hoop and Beasley walk, someone's going to pay them.  We're not going to be very active in free agency, so they could net us some good compensatory picks in 2021.

[kiwifalcon]

The only thing I’ll say about cuts is you don’t do it to save money you do it to make the team better.If your just making cuts because of cap then I question the value of doing so.If the talent isn’t there to replace what you want to cut I’m not cutting it to make a position weaker.

[thajames]

25 minutes ago, kiwifalcon said:

The only thing I’ll say about cuts is you don’t do it to save money you do it to make the team better.If your just making cuts because of cap then I question the value of doing so.If the talent isn’t there to replace what you want to cut I’m not cutting it to make a position weaker.

Very true, plus the new CBA will push the cap up...IT ALWAYS DOES. We gonna be ok.

[falcon1fan]

1 hour ago, robertap said:

No point in restructuring Mack unless you want to give him another back-loaded payday.  He's not worth the 10 million, but he's also not worth extending for 6 million a year. (I doubt he's going to just let us push half the money to next year with no incentive)  Let him finish the contract and draft his replacement (Biadasz) this year.  (Let Biadasz play LG this year)

No one's going to trade for Free.  We overpaid, and then got burned by injury.  Gotta cut him loose.  Might re-sign him at league minimum, or close to it.

Let Hoop walk.  We don't need to have 30% of our salary cap tied up in 3 players on one side of the ball.  (Ryan, Jones, Hoop)  Besides, we have Graham waiting in the wings.  Graham might actually be better given more playing time.  (Remember, great QB's make their receivers better, and Ryan has had a clear track record of doing this)

Trufant spends too much time hurt to warrant his contract.  Same as Neal.  Cut them both loose.  Perhaps re-sign or re-structure them to incentives based contracts.

Beasley's out of here.  Can't afford to pay him.  Someone's probably going to take a chance on him.  (If I'm wrong, re-sign him to an incentives based contract.  (he seems to have some motivation issues))

 

Draft should focus on DL, OL, and Secondary.  I like AJ Epenesa in the first, and Tyler Biadasz with our second pick.  (Might have to move up for Biadasz)  After that, go for DB's and LB's.  We can grab another RB, TE, or WR in the later rounds.

This seems considerably more realistic.  You can't extend/restructure your way out of a bad cap situation.  Especially when they're aging injury riddled players. Feelings are going to be hurt this off season and favorites are going to walk in my opinion. 

[Francis York Morgan]

1 hour ago, kiwifalcon said:

The only thing I’ll say about cuts is you don’t do it to save money you do it to make the team better.If your just making cuts because of cap then I question the value of doing so.If the talent isn’t there to replace what you want to cut I’m not cutting it to make a position weaker.

I agree, but that's part of cutting Free, Carpenter, Stocker, etc. We have better guys on the roster.

[ThemDarnFalconsBoy!]

• Freeman will be released. I highly doubt anyone will trade for him and take on that albatross of a contract.
• Mack will more than likely be released. This sucks, but I see it happening.
• Trufant will be re-signed
• Hooper will sign with another team for more money, ala Dimarco a few years ago.
• Neal will, unfortunately, be released
• Beasley will be released, but then be re-signed with a team-friendly deal in free agency.
• Campbell will sign with another team for more money.

Edited January 11, 2020 by ThemDarnFalconsBoy!

[stingbee]

14 hours ago, ThemDarnFalconsBoy! said:

• Freeman will be released. I highly doubt anyone will trade for him and take on that albatross of a contract.
• Mack will more than likely be released. This sucks, but I see it happening.
• Trufant will be re-signed
• Hooper will sign with another team for more money, ala Dimarco a few years ago.
• Neal will, unfortunately, be released
• Beasley will be released, but then be re-signed with a team-friendly deal in free agency.
• Campbell will sign with another team for more money.

You just created more holes for the team. You cannot just replace players via draft—drafts are no guarantees and it is a big time gambling. 
 

If you can keep certain veterans on your team, then you find a way to keep them. Im telling you the Cap thing is an imaginary boundary that can be tweaked and manipulated. TD himself said it that they should be okey, but with a few challenges on the roster. 

[ThemDarnFalconsBoy!]

 

 

 

 

 

3

9 hours ago, stingbee said:

You just created more holes for the team. You cannot just replace players via draft—drafts are no guarantees and it is a big time gambling. 
 

If you can keep certain veterans on your team, then you find a way to keep them. Im telling you the Cap thing is an imaginary boundary that can be tweaked and manipulated. TD himself said it that they should be okey, but with a few challenges on the roster. 

Exactly, "You cannot just replace players via draft—drafts are no guarantees and it is a big time gambling."  

The Falcons will have room to sign other people in Free Agency in addition to the draft. A lot of people think that a lot of these free agents will want to sign on with the Falcons in free agency; especially Hooper and Campbell...  I think other teams will offer them more money and money talks. Trufant may walk too. This all remains to be seen.

[Geaux_Falcons]

You guys may want to cut Mack, but DQ only questioned LG, when asked about OL. A restructured deal or extension will probably be a more likely fix with Mack.

Quite honestly, I only see Free and the smaller cap guys being cut. Tru may get cut/traded, but I see him more or less being around next year. Can't see us cutting 1 of the 2 veterans we have in the secondary. Some kind of extension will probably be worked out.

This team needs more vets, and cutting the few good ones we have will likely not remedy anything. Until it happens, I just dont see Mack or Tru not being here.