Post Sjax signing we have approximately 8 mil in cap space.
http://www.spotrac.c...alcons/cap-hit/115 mil on books, 123 mil cap
Lets assume Osi signs for a contract similar to Abe's last contract.
3 yr/14 mil. Little less than 5 mil a season. The Ravens just got Dumervil @ a 3 mil cap hit this year. Let's assume ours for Osi is 2 mil so that leaves us with 7 mil.
Next moves I believe we make is a contract extension of Matt Ryan and Roddy White.
We give Ryan a contract very similar to Flaccos in both structure and money. We will just use the Flacco contract for our numbers as seen here.
I believe Ryan will sign a slightly smaller contract as Flacco had the super bowl leverage when negotiating this offseason, but I believe it will be structured similarly.
We'll assume this will result in a 7 mil cap hit for Ryan this season. His original cap hit was 12 mil resulting in a 5 mil cap savings this year. This brings us to roughly 12 mil in cap space.
Next up is the Roddy White extension.
Roddy has 2 years left on his contract and this is how they are structured.
As you can see Roddy's cap hit is at it's peak. He is a prime candidate for an extension. I believe we will try to get his cap hit to something similar to what it was next year.
Roddy signs a 3 yr/18 mil extension dropping his cap hit from 9.1 mil to 6 mil.
This brings our cap to 15 mil below.
Free agency isn't over for the Falcons. We have a few more moves left with the new found money.
Falcons re-sign CB - Brent Grimes (3 yr/13 mil 8 mil guaranteed) - We now have two high quality cover corners for next season. We spent a little more in guaranteed money to Keep Grimes. 4 mil guaranteed over next two years. 4 mil cap hit year 1. 9 mil cap space remaining
Falcons sign LB - Karlos Dansby (3 yr/13 mil 5 mil guaranteed) - We now have added a solid FA to every level of the defense. Osi on the DL, Grimes in the secondary and Dansby in the LB corps. 3-4 mil cap hit year 1. Leaves us with 5-6 mil heading into the draft.
We head into the draft in great shape.
Round 1 - CB - Desmond Trufant - Last year Nolan said he wanted to have 3 high quality CBs on the field the majority of the time. I find no reason to believe that won't be the case again this year. Samuel, Grimes, Trufant, Mcclain is formidable.
Round 2 - DE - Margus Hunt - Hunt is extremely versatile. He can play 4-3 end or tackle. He can also play an end in the 3-4. Not only do we get a DE with HUGE upside, we also get a phenomenal special teams player. Hunt has blocked 17 kicks in his NCAA career. That is just an insane number and each of those can be complete game changers
Round 3 - OLB - Jelani Jenkins - Jenkins has some nice blitzing ability, but with how well he plays in space, he often is defending the open field. Jenkins' speed and athleticism make him a natural in zone coverage, and he can make quick breaks to get in on plays. Jenkins won't get beat by speed in pass coverage against running backs and tight ends. He has all the makings of being a standout pass-defender in the NFL. (excerpt from a scouting report. This would be a perfect fit for the Falcons)
Round 4 - We have a trade. The Falcons trade up. Falcons trade their 4th and 5th rounder to move up to the middle of the 4th and take NT - Brandon Williams
Round 4 comp pick - DE/DT William Gholston - Eases the sting of the Walker departure.
Round 6 - WR - Charles Johnson
Round 7 - OG - Zach Allen
Round 7 comp - DE - QUinton Dial
Round 7 comp - CB - Aaron Hester
This brings our updated defensive depth chart to look like this
DE - Osi/Gholston/Matthews
DT - Babs/Jerry
DT - Peters/Williams
DE - Hunt/Biermann
LB - Spoon/Nicholas
LB - Dansby/Dent
LB - Jenkins/Nicholas
CB - Samuel/Mcclain
CB - Grimes/Mcclain
CB - Trufant/Mcclain
Offensive depth chart remains virtually identical, but the defense is overhauled. We significantly upgrade multiple positions on every level of the defense. We are 4 CBs deep, we greatly upgrade the coverage ability from our OLB position and add a lot of quality depth to the DL.