Chris Olsen, a former executive with the Houston Texans, was named senior director of football administration by the Falcons on Friday.
Olsen was with the Texans for 13 seasons (2007-19), where he served as the senior vice president of football administration. Olsen’s primary responsibility with the Texans was to work closely with the general manager on negotiating player contracts and managing the salary cap.
He replaces Nick Polk, who was not retained. Polk was with the Falcons for 18 years, most recently as director of football operations.
“Chris is widely respected across the entire league for his knowledge of the game and the business, and the work he has accomplished to this point in his career,” Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot said in a statement released by the team. “On top of that, he is a great human being and teammate and we are excited for him to join the Falcons organization. We look forward to what we can accomplish and build together.”
Polk spent five seasons as the Falcons’ director of football administration before he was promoted to director of football operations. Polk worked closely with former general manager Thomas Dimitroff on contracts, negotiations and salary-cap management. He also coordinated the team’s compliance with the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement and labor-related issues.
Olsen will face a difficult task as the Falcons are projected to be $33.2 million over the salary cap by Spotrac.com and $36.1 million by Overthecap.com. The Falcons were not able to re-sign productive starters in tight end Austin Hooper and linebacker DeVondre Campbell in the 2020 offseason.
The Falcons likely will lose safety Keanu Neal and running back Todd Gurley to free agency this year while they must find some money to re-sign kicker Younghoe Koo. The Falcons likely will have several salary-cap casualties, which could include free safety Ricardo Allen and defensive end Allen Bailey.
Only the Saints ($104.6 million) and Eagles ($51.4 million) have less estimated salary-cap space than the Falcons.
The Falcons will have until 4 p.m. March 17 to get under the cap. That’s the start of the new NFL business year. Currently the cap projects to be around $176 million, but likely could go as high as $185 million.
For now, the Falcons’ top six salary-cap numbers for 2021 belong to quarterback Matt Ryan ($40.9 million), wide receiver Julio Jones ($23.05 million), defensive tackle Grady Jarrett ($20.8 million), left tackle Jake Matthews ($20.2 million) and defensive end Dante Fowler ($18.6 million) and middle linebacker Deion Jones ($12.6 million).
The Falcons could save $23.3 million by cutting their top five players with the most potential salary-cap savings in Allen ($6.2 million), Jarrett ($5.3 million), left guard James Carpenter ($5.3 million), defensive end Allen Bailey ($4.5 million) and Fowler ($3.3 million). You can bump than number down to $18 million because they are not cutting Jarrett, who went to his second consecutive Pro Bowl and will be a key rebuilding block for the new regime.
So, that would still leave the Falcons a more manageable $15 million to 18 million over the cap. They could restructure some other deals and prorate some bonuses to squeeze under the cap. They likely will have to play with a lot of low-salaried rookies, undrafted rookies and minimum-salaried veterans in 2021.
Before working with the Texans, Olsen worked for the NFL league office in New York. He was manager of labor operations with the NFL management council from 1999-2006 where he was responsible for reviewing and analyzing player contracts to ensure teams were in compliance with the CBA and salary cap, as well as provided assistance to team executives pertaining to player-related areas of the CBA.
Falcons’ 2021 draft position:
In the Cincinnati Bengals media mock draft, writer Geoff Hobson pays tribute to former Yahoo Sports writer Terez Paylor, who died in his sleep Monday. D. Orlando Ledbetter of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution selected Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields for the Falcons with the fourth overall pick and Notre Dame linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah in the second round.
Top five picks
1. Jacksonville Jaguars - Trevor Lawrence, QB, Clemson
2. New York Jets - Ja’ Marr Chase, WR, LSU
3. Miami Dolphins (via Houston) - DeVonta Smith, WR, Alabama
4. Falcons - Justin Fields, QB, Ohio State
5. Cincinnati Bengals - Penei Sewell, OT, Oregon
SECOND ROUND
35. Falcons - ILB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Notre Dame
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