Yesterday, the Falcons officially announced the signing of Todd Gurley, even though he has yet to take a physical, which feels like a must given his injury history. However, because of the Coronavirus pandemic, teams are putting clauses in their contracts to protect them from such issues. Whenever the Falcons are allowed to conduct a physical on Gurley, they will, and if something comes up, the contract will be void. However, Thomas Dimitroff does not feel like that will be a problem.
Dimitroff said he feels good about Todd Gurley passing the physical. Said there is language in the contract. “When he passes our physical” … Dimitroff said.
— vaughn mcclure (@vxmcclure23) April 7, 2020
Gurley’s deal is for one year and worth $5.5 million with an additional 500K in incentives — quite a bargain for a player that was an All-Pro in 2017 and 2018. Even if Gurley will always be a shell of what he once was thanks to arthritis in his knee, this is a win-win for the Falcons, who are risking very little for what could provide a substantial reward. But now that we know the structure of his contract, we can estimate how much cap space is available, and if there is the potential for another free-agent addition before the season begins.
Prior to the Gurley signing becoming official, the Falcons had about $7.3 million in cap space, according to Over The Cap. This contract leaves them with less than $2 million to spend for the remainder of free agency. Of course, Atlanta will open up about $11 million in cap space once the Desmond Trufant cut becomes official on June 2nd. However, that money will be spent on their rookie class, and the remaining few million should be saved for signings throughout the season. So unless the Falcons shuffle things around by restructuring contracts, don’t expect anymore significant additions.
The most feasible contract to restructure would be Julio Jones, and Atlanta could save a maximum of close to $8 million by doing so, giving them some wiggle room for at least one more noteworthy signing. The Falcons could also work out an extension with a few candidates, but that seems less likely and would not save the team as much money.
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