Former Texas A&M star reaches massive pay day with Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons and offensive tackle Jake Matthews are at the finish-line of a deal that’ll end up giving the former Texas A&M star a massive payday. According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, the deal is expected to be done soon, and will get Matthews above $18 million a year.
“The #Falcons and Jake Matthews are working on a three-year contract extension, per source,” reported Fowler. “Should be done soon and get him above $18M per year.”
Moreover, Atlanta drafted Matthews No. 6 overall in the 2014 NFL Draft. Since, the Falcons are the only team he’s known. Over his career, he’s been a staple on an Atlanta offensive line who’s job it is to keep Matt Ryan upright.
Throughout his time with the Falcons, the former Texas A&M star has been a steadying presence along the offensive line. Now, Atlanta is ensuring Jake Matthews remains with the franchise for the foreseeable future.
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Moreover, the Atlanta Falcons are using some of the cap room they created last week. To illustrate, they accomplished this by restructuring veteran quarterback Matt Ryan’s contract. According to NFL Network Ian Rapoport, the contract restructuring agreement between Ryan and the Falcons adds roughly 12 million worth of cap room.
“The #Falcons have restructured the contract of QB Matt Ryan, source said, created $12M worth of cap room ahead of the new league year. Ryan, due $23.75M in cash in 2022, previously had a cap number of $48.66M,” wrote Rapoport via Twitter.
With the restructuring of Ryan’s contract, the Falcons have created roughly 16.2 million in team cap space. As usual with the NFL, Ryan still carries one of the largest cap hits on the team. His reworking pits him second on the team, just a few thousand behind two-time pro-bowl defensive tackle Grady Jarrett.
As you can see, the Falcons wasted no time in putting their new-found space to work. After locking up Jake Matthews, time will tell how Atlanta looks to get back into the NFC playoff picture.