PALM BEACH, Fla. — Coming into the offseason, the Falcons had to deal with four hefty contracts.
They extended Jake Matthews’ contract to lower his salary-cap number and traded Matt Ryan to the Colts. The Falcons have not completed any deals – either a contract extension or restructuring – with defensive tackle Grady Jarrett or linebacker Deion Jones.
Jarrett has the team’s highest salary-cap number ($23.8 million) for 2022. Matthews is second ($23.7 million), followed by Jones ($20 million).
“I’m not going to predict,” Falcons coach Arthur Smith said when asked about Jarrett’s contract status Tuesday at the NFL owners meeting. “He knows where we stand. We love Grady.”
Jarrett could play on the last year of his contract and make it to free agency.
“But we also understand that players may have their own opinions, and that’s welcome (to have those). ... That’s part of the NFL and doing business,” Smith said. “We’ll see how it plays out.”
The new administration hasn’t been shy about dealing players.
“I love Grady, and I’d love to keep coaching him,” Smith said.
Smith addressed several other roster situations, including how the 2021 rookie class must improve its play in 2022 – starting with tight end Kyle Pitts and safety Richie Grant.
“He needs to take another step and improve,” Smith said of Pitts. “He had a decent rookie season, and we expect him to be better this season.”
Grant played mostly nickel back as a rookie but is expected to take over at strong safety. Duron Harmon, last season’s starter, has not been re-signed.
“(Grant) fits in that category, too,” Smith said. “We need all of those guys to take a step (forward), and they know it. I like the class, but they’ve got to prove it every year. It’s not like college and you’re on scholarship for four years.
“You’ve got to earn your job. There’s an expectation that they all need to improve. Certainly, we’ll see what happens when they come back in the spring and more importantly, in training camp.”
In free agency, the Falcons retained running back/wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson and signed running back Damien Williams and wide receivers KhaDarel Hodge and Auden Tate. The Falcons need more weapons on offense and will add more in the draft.
“They’ll have a chance to compete to play,” Smith said of the wide receivers.
Williams, who has averaged 4.2 yards per carry over seven seasons, could push for playing time at running back and let Patterson go back to wide receiver.
“He’s been a very productive player in the league,” Smith said of Williams. “He can play four downs. He should help us on special teams. I like his presence. I like his demeanor. We’ll see where it goes.”
While with the Chiefs in 2019, Williams rushed 17 times for 104 yards to help them win Super Bowl LIV 31-20 over San Francisco. He opted out of the 2020 season because of the coronavirus pandemic. He played last season with Chicago.
Hodge and Tate are bigger receivers at 6-foot-5 and have combined for 14 starts.
“They’ll have an opportunity to earn a job,” Smith said. “An opportunity to see what they can do to help the team. See if they can contribute. Obviously, you just mentioned their size. Both of them have had productive seasons in the past. We’ll see where it goes. There’s opportunity everywhere in the receiver room.”
The Falcons haven’t done much in free agency to fix their porous offensive line. They re-signed backup guard Colby Gossett and former Bears lineman Elijah Wilkinson.
“We'll play the best guys. We tried to strip away the entitlement. Nothing is given. Players or coaches. You have to mean what you say when you say that. There's opportunity. That's what most guys want."
“In some areas, we certainly need to improve,” Smith said. “Those guys have to take another step. No job is guaranteed.”
Matthews and right guard Chris Lindstrom are the only safe players along the line. The Falcons are expected to pick up Lindstrom’s $12.3 million fifth-year option, and they’ll likely pass on picking up Kaleb McGary’s $12.3 million fifth-year option.
“We certainly feel good about it with Jake Matthews or we wouldn’t have extended him,” Smith said. “Those guys have to continue to improve, and we’ll continue to look to bring guys in to compete.”
On defense, the Falcons signed veteran cornerback Casey Hayward, of Perry High School and Vanderbilt. He’s slated to take over at right cornerback for Fabian Moreau and help provide guidance for the young secondary.
“He’s a smart vet,” Smith said. “He should help that (meeting) room. We brought Erik Harris back. I think it adds to the football intelligence back there, especially with some of the younger guys we’re going to rely on in Richie and Hawk (Jaylinn Hawkins) and AJ (Terrell).”
Isaiah Oliver, who suffered a season-ending knee injury, is expected to make it back, although Smith wouldn’t reveal the timetable. They’d be safe to shoot for training camp, but he could make it back for some of the offseason program.
“He’s a smart football player who can play inside,” Smith said. “He, obviously, played outside early in his career. Again, the more guys that you have that can play multiple positions, the better off we’ll be on defense. No different than with Casey, who adds intelligence to the secondary. That will allow us to be more flexible on the back end.”
Replacing linebacker Foye Oluokun, who led the league in tackles with 192, is the biggest hole on defense. Mykal Walker made two starts and played in all 17 games last season. He has shown some promise in limited duty.
“We may change the job description to fit whoever we have back there,” Smith said.
The Falcons also signed outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter, of Norcross High and UGA, in free agency to a one-year, $3.5 million deal.
“He’ll be an edge guy for us,” Smith said. “Similar scheme he’s coming from in New York with Patrick Graham. They all, everybody, kind of morphs a little bit. Structurally, he should be pretty familiar with what we’ll ask him to do. He was very productive down the stretch. He’s hard to block at the point of attack. I’m excited to work with Lorenzo.”
The Falcons continue to look for help for their anemic pass rush.
“Yeah, you always want more rushers,” Smith said. “We’re looking to add everywhere.”
One of the underrated signings was the return of nose tackle Anthony Rush, who played well after being signed Nov. 8. He played in 10 games and made six starts in the middle of the 3-4 base defense.
“It says that we’ll play whoever,” Smith said. “We’ll play the best guys. We tried to strip away the entitlement. Nothing is given. Players or coaches. You have to mean what you say when you say that. There’s opportunity. That’s what most guys want.”
The Falcons expect to continue to churn their 90-man roster this offseason.
“It’s a credit to (general manager) Terry (Fontenot) and the pro personnel staff,” Smith said. “We received good production out of the guys we brought in that weren’t in training camp with us. That’s the name of the game.”
