The Falcons are parting ways with veteran guard Brandon Fusco. This news coming courtesy of Howard Balzer.
Falcons terminated contract of G Brandon Fusco with designation failed physical. He started 7 games last season before being placed on injured reserve.
— Howard Balzer (@HBalzer721) April 29, 2019
It has since been confirmed true, and it is not difficult to see why. The Falcons signed both Jamon Brown and James Carpenter in free agency and then drafted Chris Lindstrom, a guard out of Boston College with the 14th pick.
Fusco was signed by Atlanta in the 2018 offseason to a three-year, $12.5 million contract. He started the first seven games but was nothing spectacular. A gruesome ankle injury in week 8 forced him to miss the remainder of the season.
Depending on whether or not the Falcons designate the transaction a Post-June 1st cut will determine how much they save this season. If they don’t designate it Post-June 1st, they will save approximately $2.3 million. If they do, it will save them about $3.5 million in 2019. A reminder, however, that if the cut is designated Post-June 1st, the Falcons cannot use that money on free agents. They can only spend that cash on free agent acquisitions during the season and to sign their draft picks.
The Falcons are only allowed to designate two cuts as Post-June 1st. They have already done so with Ryan Schraeder earlier this offseason.
Providing Fusco hasn’t suffered significant complications in returning from his ankle injury; he should latch on somewhere else quickly. At the very least, he is quality depth for a team thin at the position. But after the draft, the Falcons are no longer one of those teams.