Matt Ryan’s salary cap number left the Falcons with no choice but to lower it. They did that Friday, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports.
The restructure of Ryan’s contract created $12 million in salary cap space ahead of the start of the new league year Wednesday.
Ryan, who has two years remaining on his contract, was scheduled to make $16.25 million in base salary in 2022 and was owed a $7.5 million roster bonus March 19.
He was scheduled to have the highest cap hit in NFL history at $48.662 million.
Now, he will have an even higher cap number in 2023 than the $43.612 million he originally was scheduled to have. But the Falcons can deal with that next year. They needed cap room this year.
Ryan, who turns 37 in May, hasn’t made the Pro Bowl since 2016. He has had a passer rating over 100 only once since then (a 108.1 in 2018) and has played only two playoff games (both in 2017).