The Atlanta Falcons have opened up some more cap space as they get closer to signing wide receiver Julio Jones to a long-term deal.
According to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network, the Falcons have restructured the contracts of left tackle Jake Matthews and safety Ricardo Allen.
As a way of creating cap room, the #Falcons converted base salary to signing bonus on the contracts for Jake Matthews and Ricardo Allen, source says, adding they’re now “just barely into positive space.” Preparing for… pic.twitter.com/8BYQLGfFSS
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) September 4, 2019
Per Field Yates of ESPN, the Falcons opened up $5 million in cap space with those moves.
The restructures give both guys bigger bonuses now and lowers the base salary for this year. It is just a push it down the road type of deal and it will ultimately lead to them having a bigger cap hit. But for now, it should help open up the cap space necessary to get the Jones deal done.
On Tuesday, Falcons owner Arthur Blank said the two sides were very close to getting a deal done, and he expected it to be done soon.
“I’d be surprised and disappointed if we didn’t get it done this week,” Blank said via Jeff Schultz of TheAthletic.com. “. . .I think it’s very reasonable to assume it will get done this week.”
While other players like Ezekiel Elliott held out of training camp, Jones didn't miss practices because he was confident in Blank and it looks like it is going to pay off.
The New Orleans Saints signed Michael Thomas to a 5-year, $100 million extension earlier this offseason and that will probably be around the terms that Jones ends up with. In Jones' eight-year NFL career he has hauled in 698 catches for 10,731 yards and 51 touchdowns.
He, along with Calvin Ridley, is quite the one-two punch on the outside for many years to come.
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