The NFL offseason is all fun and games when there’s salary cap space available. However, tough decisions need to be made when money gets tight.
Teams routinely cut star players while they’re still productive due to financial reasons. More often than not, the quarterback position takes up a disproportionate amount of the cap.
The Atlanta Falcons have a bad case of overpaid quarterback syndrome that could hinder the team during the offseason. Kirk Cousins has a cap hit of $40 million this season.
Unless the Falcons can pull off a post-June 1 trade to a QB-needy team, they will likely eat most of that money without Cousins playing a single snap. Atlanta has a cap deficit of over $11 million, which may force the team to say goodbye to some veteran players.
NFL.com released a feature highlighting 21 NFC cut candidates. Defensive linemen Grady Jarrett and David Onyemata were among those mentioned:
At this moment, it looks as if the Falcons will be in bad cap shape, projected to sit $11.1 million in the red, and they’ll need to make quite a few moves to bring that figure back in line. One possibility: releasing one of these two starting defensive linemen. The two had relatively similar production in 2024, though Grady Jarrett held the edge over David Onyemata in most categories. Then again, Jarrett’s release would buy more than $16 million in cap savings, while releasing Onyemata would net just $8.1 million in savings — and saddle Atlanta with $8.9 million in dead money. Whether to cut Jarrett or Onyemata will come down to a question of value and expectation for the Falcons, but at least one is likely to be gone this spring. — Matt Okada, NFL.com
As Okada pointed out, cutting Jarrett would free up over $16 million — completely wiping out the team’s cap deficit. However, Jarrett has been a defensive cornerstone in Atlanta for the last decade. The former fourth-round pick out of Clemson was the only consistent defender for several seasons.
Onyemata signed with the Falcons as a free agent in 2023. The veteran defensive lineman had a great first year under Ryan Nielsen but was slightly less effective this season.
It would be hard to imagine the team cutting both defensive linemen without clear replacements. Rookies Ruke Orhorhoro and Brandon Dorlus played sparingly last season.