Falcons Restructure OL Chris Lindstrom's Contract, Create Heavy Cap Space

The Atlanta Falcons opened significant salary cap room by restructuring right guard Chris Lindstrom's contract.

The Atlanta Falcons have restructured guard Chris Lindstrom's contract, creating substantial cap space for another move. / Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Falcons' busy week of player moves continued Thursday -- this time with right guard Chris Lindstrom.

Atlanta has restructured Lindstrom's contract, moving part of his $12.5 million base salary into a signing bonus, according to ESPN. While the amount of cap space created is uncertain, it's enough to give the Falcons room "to maneuver."

Lindstrom's base salary is now just $1.125 million, per OverTheCap, while his cap number went from $18 million to $8.9 million. A restructure, OverTheCap notes, saves the Falcons some $9.1 million in space.

With the move to restructure Lindstrom's deal, the Falcons now have $7.093 million to work with -- and a few motives at hand.

For starters, Atlanta, which had approximately $3.55 million earlier this week, needed to open room for the $6.7 million contract of star pass rusher Matthew Judon, who was acquired Wednesday night in a trade with the New England Patriots.

Another factor at hand is the Falcons' pursuit of star free agent safety Justin Simmons, formerly of the Denver Broncos.

Atlanta hosted Simmons for a visit Tuesday and Wednesday. The visit reportedly "went smoothly" and featured dinner with a pair of team leaders in defensive tackle Grady Jarrett and cornerback A.J. Terrell.

Simmons, 30, has been named a second-team All-Pro four times in the last five years, and the lone time he missed the list, he made his first Pro Bowl in 2020.

The 6-foot-2, 202-pounder is coming off a productive campaign in which he recorded 70 tackles and three interceptions across 15 games. He's started the last 108 games he's played and would provide another seasoned voice to Atlanta's defense.

Having cap flexibility is always a positive, and Atlanta needed to create enough room for Judon, but it also likely wouldn't be opening as much space as it did if it weren't seriously pursuing another splash move -- and Simmons appears to be the apple of the Falcons' eye.