On Tuesday afternoon, one day prior to the start of the new league year, WSB-TV sports director Zach Klein reported that the Atlanta Falcons had restructured Matt Ryan’s contract.
According to Klein, the Falcons converted $21 million of Ryan’s $23 million base salary for the 2021 season into a signing bonus. Per league rules, a signing bonus can be prorated over the remaining years of a player’s contract. Essentially, Atlanta added an additional $7 million to Ryan’s bonus number for the 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons but still freed up a total of $14 million in cap space for this year by cutting down the base salary.