When the Falcons released cornerback Desmond Trufant in March, the former starter was designated as a post-June 1 cut.
The move, which gave the Falcons $10.75 million in salary-cap space, is officially on the books, leaving the team $11,677,141 under the $198.2 million salary cap, according to NFLPA documents.
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Most of the new room will be used to sign the rookie class, which will take up $6.84 million of the remaining money.
Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff likes to keep about $2 million in cap space for emergencies that may pop up over the course of the season.
So, that will leave the team with enough room to possibly add a couple of mid-level free agents, but not enough room to chase a big-ticket free agent such as Jadeveon Clowney, unless he takes a major discount.
The Falcons have not signed any of the six rookie draft picks. Last year, the Falcons had all of the rookies deals completed by May 16.
Cornerback A.J. Terrell, who was taken with the 16th overall pick, is projected to sign a four-year contract worth $14.3 million with a $7.9 million signing bonus, by salary website Spotrac. Terrell's deal likely will be fully guaranteed.
Defensive end Brian Burns, who was selected 16th overall by Carolina last season, signed a four-year, $13.5 million fully guaranteed contract last season. He received a $7.8 million signing bonus.
Terrell's cap number is projected to be $2.6 million and makes the top 51 contracts that count toward the cap. Also, here are the projected salary-cap numbers for the rest of the rookie class: second-round pick Marlon Davidson ($1.2 million), third-round pick Matt Hennessy ($860,000), fourth-round picks Mykal Walker ($790,000) and Jaylin Hawkins ($760,000) and seventh-round pick Sterling Hofrichter ($630,000).
The Falcons are young at cornerback and could add some help in the late free-agent market. Cornerbacks Logan Ryan, Darqueze Dennard and Trumaine Johnson are all free agents.
Ryan, 29, has played with the Patriots and Titans.
Dennard, 28, of Twiggs County, was a first-round draft pick (24th overall) of the Bengals in 2014. The Falcons currently have 17 first-round draft picks on the roster.
Dennard has played in 77 NFL games and made 24 starts.
Johnson, who underperformed after signing a lucrative five-year, $72 million with the Jets, is a big corner at 6-foot-2 and 213 pounds.
Other notable free agents who could be in the Falcons' price range include linebacker Clay Matthews, defensive tackle Mike Daniels, cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick and tight end Delanie Walker.
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