Falcons clear $5 million in cap room by restructuring contracts for 2 players

Julio Jones is scheduled to speak with the media on Thursday afternoon in preparation for the Falcons’ first game of the season against the Vikings. It sounds like the team wants to have a long-term extension in place with Jones by then and they’re making progress by clearing room.

According to a report by Mike Garafolo at NFL Network, Atlanta has converted base salary to signing bonuses for left tackle Jake Matthews and free 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

Tom Pelissero says the move cleared $5 million in cap room for 2019.

Specifically, the #Falcons cleared $5 million of cap space on these simple restructures. https://t.co/WGKonyl01z

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) September 4, 2019

Before this move, the Falcons were actually in the red as far as salary cap space goes.

Expect a deal with No. 11 soon.