Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com writes that “based on buzz around the Senior Bowl,” Falcons’ FS Thomas DeCoud‘s 2014 status with the team is “uncertain.”
Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff recently mentioned that the safety position happens to be one of the areas they will look for improvements during offseason.
“Do we need a safety? I think it’s always important to have good, experienced safeties and safeties that will make plays on the ball and be adept and consistent tacklers,’’ commented Dimitroff on an interview for ESPN. “We will always look to continue to improve depth, like we’ve always said. Improving our group of safeties, that’s always going to be an important thing for us.’’
DeCoud, 28, signed a five-year contract worth $17.5 million that included $4 million guaranteed with the Falcons back in 2012. He was also selected a Pro Bowl that year, but really struggled a lot this season in both tackling and coverage.
Pro Football Focus rated DeCoud as one of the worst qualifying safeties in the league — No. 83 out of 86 players.
Releasing DeCoud would free up $3 million in cap space, according to Overthecap.com, which is an important consideration given that Atlanta is currently projected to have just $6.8 million in available cap space this offseason.
According to McClure , the Falcons “seem to be eyeing a veteran safety” and lists Bills S Jairus Byrd and Panthers S Mike Mitchell as speculative options that Atlanta could consider in the free agent market.
We have both of those players included in our Top 100 Free Agents list.
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Where are you getting this cap number????
Both cap figures are from Overthecap.com’s projections. There is a link above that will show you DeCouds cap figure and the Falcons 2014 projected cap space can be found here:
http://overthecap.com/2014-salary-cap-space-update-jan-22/
Hope that helps.
So this is before Gonzo’s $7M comes off and not factoring carryover. Gotcha!
Cap situations are fluid and teams will always have ways to free up additional cap space. The idea was floated by a credible writer and we figured we would pass along the topic.