It's that time of year in the NFL — time to get those salary cap sheets in order.
The Atlanta Falcons are no exception, making a move on Thursday that frees up nearly $12 million in cap space.
It's common before Week 1 for teams to start shuffling money around with contract restructures. There's almost never a harm in going into the season with more cap space. It frees up possibilities for extensions, trades or signings that can help the team — and if the space has already been created, it's less stressful than having to pull off a couple maneuvers with a clock ticking later on.
The Falcons weren't in a terrible cap situation to begin with, but now they have to feel quite good about how they stand.
They open the season on Sunday in Pittsburgh against the Steelers , and there'll be a lot of new for the Falcons — football front office leader ( Matt Ryan ), head coach (Kevin Stefanski) and quarterback ( Tua Tagovailoa ).
For now, they're just trying to make sure the big picture is ready to go with this latest contract move.
The Falcons restructured the contract of offensive guard Chris Lindstrom on Thursday.
According to Spotrac, they converted $14.7 million of Lindstrom's salary into a signing bonus, which adds one void year to his deal and creates $11.76 million in cap space for 2026.
It gives Lindstrom a raise specifically in guaranteed money, which goes up for him to $16 million this year.
He has $37 million non-guaranteed remaining after this.
The player takes a move like this because the Falcons give him more guaranteed money.
For Atlanta, it makes sense because it frees up wiggle room against the cap in 2026.
Lindstrom's father, uncle and brother have all played in the NFL.
He himself is a four-time Pro Bowl offensive guard who the Falcons took No. 14 overall in the 2019 NFL Draft out of Boston College.
Now 29, Lindstrom is about as reliable as they come for Atlanta.
He has appeared in all 17 games each of the past two seasons, as well as 16 games in 2023 and 17 apiece in 2022 and 2021.
All told, Lindstrom has appeared in 105 regular season games for the Falcons in his seven years with the franchise.
Lindstrom is set to start at left guard this season. The Falcons have Matthew Bergeron at left guard. Jake Matthews remains at left tackle, with Ryan Neuzil at center and Jawaan Taylor new to the operation at right tackle.
It's a pretty veteran group, and it'll be key for Lindstrom and his big buddies up front to be at their best to help Atlanta compete for the NFC South Division title.
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