Falcons: 3 cap casualties who could alter 2021 NFL draft plans

Dante Fowler Jr., EDGE

The third and final possibility we will examine is that of defensive end Dante Fowler, Jr.

In light of the team’s treacherous salary cap situation heading into free agency in 2020, the expectation among many was that the Falcons would be little more than spectators during the featured events of the year’s early signing period. In reality, Atlanta would do quite the opposite by throwing top dollar at edge defender Dante Fowler Jr. in an attempt to jump start the all-important pass rush for a 2021 season that was likely to decide the fate of the man making the decision, General Manager Thomas Dimitroff, as well as Head Coach Dan Quinn.

Squeezing Fowler into the team’s plans for the 2020 season would require a heavily back-loaded deal, and that is precisely what Dimitroff proffered in securing the services of the coveted pass rusher. The three-year, $48 million contract the team granted Fowler would appear on Atlanta’s books as a mere $6.6 million cap hit for the 2020 season, representing quite a value for a player who recorded 11.5 sacks the year prior as a member of the Los Angeles Rams.  Moving the calendar forward one year, Fowler’s cap number is set to escalate to $18.6 million in 2021 after a season that saw his sack total dip to 3 over 14 games played as a member of the Falcons, with the figure escalating to $19.6 in the third and final year of the deal.

Though cutting Fowler would be painful from a financial standpoint, the newly-appointed Fontenot might nonetheless find it in the best interest of both the 2021 and 2022 Falcons to go ahead and rip off the band-aid.

If the team were to release him with a post-June 1st designation, his cap hit for the 2021 season would be $10.6 million.  However, the move would serve to free up nearly $8 million towards the team’s effort to abide by a salary cap that is expected to be set by the NFL in the vicinity of $185 million per team.