Dontari Poe will likely wear another uniform next season.
Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff said Wednesday that the defensive tackle will likely become a free agent next month and the price might be too high for the team.
Dimitroff acknowledged that it will be tough to keep Poe, who will be in high demand by a lot of teams with a lot of salary cap space.
“Dontari did a heck of a job for us this year,” said Dimitroff, who spoke at the NFL scouting combine. “We really liked his impact for us especially in the run game of course, understanding that it may be a one-year deal. We are in a spot right now there’s a very good chance he’s going to free agency and land a very lucrative deal.
“We appreciate what he has done with us so far and we do understand that there is a place for one-year-and-sign players. If it works and you parlay that into another deal, we are open to that. We don’t want too many of those players on the team. Not Dontari necessarily, but too many one-year players. It would tug at the continuity of the football team. But you can benefit from them.”
Poe played last season on a incentive-laden contract, which had a base salary of $8 million dollars. He bet on himself and had a solid season. He played 868 defensive snaps, the second highest on the team behind Grady Jarrett’s 870. He also played eight snaps on offense.
Poe was the seventh-highest paid defensive tackle in the league. The Dolphins’ Ndamukong Suh is slated to be the highest paid defensive tackle in the league at $16.9 million next season.
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Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC
Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC
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