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Falcons strongly critiqued by ESPN for $96 million contract for 26-year-old OG
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- Falcons strongly critiqued by ESPN for $96 million contract for 26-year-old OG
Falcons strongly critiqued by ESPN for $96 million contract for 26-year-old OG originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
The Atlanta Falcons have made a lot of significant financial commitments to their offense in the last few months. Kyle Pitts earned a major extension, while Drake London got north of $140 million, and Bijan Robinson broke the RB contract record for a day.
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But that wasn't all the Falcons did this summer to lock up their young players for the future. They also signed a $96 million, four-year contract extension with 26-year-old offensive guard Matthew Bergeron .
ESPN's Seth Walder rated this extension as the worst of this offseason and levied some strong critiques of the Falcons for this $96M deal. It was some harsh criticism, as he doesn't believe Bergeron should've made this much money at all.
Falcons receive harsh criticism for $96M Matthew Bergeron extension
"This number caught me off guard," Walder writes. "Bergeron is solid, but he's not even the best guard on his team. Yet he just tied Tyler Smith for the highest APY among NFL guards."
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The Falcons are paying Bergeron like one of the NFL's best offensive guards. But Walder doesn't believe he should belong in that tier.
While the 26-year-old former second-round pick was heading into the final year of his rookie deal, and finding good offensive guards is imperative to team success, Bergeron's $96M deal might've been too much for his talent level.
Walder explained, "Bergeron recorded pass block and run block win rates in the 41st and 57th percentiles among guards last season, respectively."
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It doesn't take a much deeper analysis to make the case for why the $96 million extension for Bergeron wasn't worth it based on those numbers.
Bergeron's new deal is a massive one, and while keeping a solid guard like him isn't a bad decision from the Falcons, the price they paid to do so is a bit too much.
As Walder writes, "We haven't seen the exact structure of the contract yet, but based on the top-line numbers, the Falcons bought themselves plenty of downside in exchange for very little upside."
Bergeron has played in three seasons in the NFL and has started 17, 17, and 15 games from 2023 through 2025. But he's not once made the Pro Bowl or an All-Pro team, and he's not been a top-tier guard as this massive payday suggests.
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This $96 million extension was a no-brainer for Bergeron, as it ties the current NFL leader in APY for offensive guards in the Dallas Cowboys ' three-time Pro Bowler, Tyler Smith. But, for the Falcons, it might've been a mistake.
