The Falcons are coming off a busy week that included the release of three former key players.
Kicker Matt Bryant, cornerback Robert Alford and defensive end Brooks Reed were released, clearing $15.2 million in salary cap space. Alford and Reed have since signed with the Arizona Cardinals.
Here are five things to know about the Falcons on Monday:
1. Salary cap savings. The money will likely be used on players already on the roster as the Falcons are working on new deals for defensive tackle Grady Jarrett and wide receiver Julio Jones. With Reeds released, perhaps the Falcons plan to make a run at retaining Bruce Irvin.
2. What's next? In the past, general manager Thomas Dimitroff has identified the cap casualties and then moved on to re-negotiating existing contracts. Candidates for re-negotiation are most notably right tackle Ryan Schraeder and defensive end Vic Beasley.
3. Jarrett projections. Jarrett's value is very high after a stellar contract-season. The Falcons probably wished they'd reached a deal before last season. OverTheCap and ProFootballFocus have projected that Jarrett is worth a five-year, $82.5 million deal with $46 million guaranteed.
The folks over at spotrac have a lower, five-year $76.2 million projection on Jarrett.
After going in the fifth-round in the NFL draft, Jarrett signed a four-year $2.527 million deal with the Falcons on May 8, 2015.
4. Jones' birthday. Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones turned 30 on Feb. 3.
5. Combine coming up. Twenty-five former Georgia high school football players have been invited to the scouting combine to be held Feb. 26-March 4 in Indianapolis.
Georgia’s representation is tied for third most with California and trails Florida (51) and Texas (31), according to NFL.com. Ohio is next with 20. There are 338 invitees overall.
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