Throughout the tumultuous Falcons offseason, analysts here and otherwise kept pointing to a Grady Jarrett extension as one of the most logical moves the team could make to clear cap space. It turns out that the blockbuster move the team was locked in on was the Julio Jones trade, and they would otherwise clear room through cuts, restructures and the like. That left them with enough money to pilot a modest free agent period and eventually sign their draft picks, but not enough to have significant financial flexibility for unexpected events.
Once we learned that Julio wanted out and the team was hellbent on accommodating that, the big push from the fanbase for a Jarrett extension died down a bit.