The Falcons have released safety Ricardo Allen and defensive end Allen Bailey (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter). Together, the moves will free up $10.75MM in salary cap space for Atlanta. 
Allen agreed to a simple contract restructuring last year to give the Falcons additional breathing room last year. This time around, the Falcons chose to wipe his entire deal off of the books. Previously, the safety was set to play out the final year of his three-year, $19.5MM deal. Instead, the Falcons will save a pretty penny with just $2.125MM in dead money left on the books.
Allen, a 2014 fifth-round pick, cracked the starting lineup in his second pro season. After 77 games (76 starts), he’ll seek new employment elsewhere. In 12 games last year, the 29-year-old registered 25 stops and a pair of interceptions.
Bailey inked a one-year, $4.5MM extension in the 2020 offseason. After spending his first eight seasons with the Chiefs, he found a regular role with the Falcons in 2019, appearing in 15 games and making five starts. Last year, he had perfect attendance with four starts, but the Falcons are looking to go younger and cheaper on the edge. In total, Bailey has 133 regular season games and 22 sacks to his credit.
‘Allen agreed to a simple contract restructuring last year to give the Falcons additional breathing room last year’
Why restructure your deal if they’ll simply cut you? Make the teams deal with the cap penalties. I get getting (easy numbers) $1m cash up front rather than playing 16 games for t$1m, but why help a team when they’ll gladly ‘move on’.
Oh stop whining.
They converted his base salary for last year into a signing bonus. He got his the cash up front (smart man makes interest on this), and guaranteed the money when they possibly could have cut him last year.
It was a big plus for Allen. He gave up NOTHING.
“Hey, thanks for helping us out when we needed it! By the way, you’re now unemployed.”
Exactly!