The Atlanta Falcons announced their contract two-year, $45 million extension with Jake Matthews on Sunday evening. The franchise left tackle is the first in a potential list of moves that the franchise could make in the coming days ahead of the NFL's free agency period.
Defensive moves are likely on the docket for the Falcons this offseason, but what could be coming up next for the Falcons? The Morning Shift discussed some of those moves and why this extension is a significant step in the right direction.
"Before this move, the Falcons were over [the cap] by just over $6 million," Beau Morgan said about the team first getting cap compliant by the start of the league year on March 12th. "You did this move to get under and then there will be another to clear out [cap space] to sign guys."
Other extension candidates could include safety Jessie Bates, linebacker Kaden Ellis, or even right tackle Kaleb McGary.
I am curious, with it being the last year of McGary's deal, if he would sign a three-year extension," Morgan said. "And I think he's coming off of his best season."
Mike Johnson agreed that this was a strong season for McGary, but he is not as convinced that he should be an extension candidate.
"Kaleb McGary is one of the guys who could go either way for me," Johnson said. "I think McGary has such a vast amount of value when it comes to the run game but I do think he is a hinderance in the pass game to when you go up against elite pass rushers you're forced to chip, and even sometimes that doesn't help.
"I think when I look at Kaleb McGary, I could see a guy who you could extending him to try and move money around, and I could see them trying to get him off of the books."
McGary carries a $16.5 million cap hit moving into the 2025 league year and, one way or the other, will likely be one of the players the Falcons need to make a decision about.
Defensive moves are coming, rest assured, but nothing will come out until these in-house decisions are made.