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Drafting and signing rookies is all fun and games, but there are limits. Taking into account your team's draft position, number of draft picks, and collective intestinal fortitude, it's possibly to estimate what amount of cap space is needed to sign a rookie class. Ya know, because we have to pay these guys at some point [insert sad face].
The fine folks over at Under the Cap have the Falcons needing $3 million in cap space to sign their rookies. It's hard to nail down how much cap space the Falcons will have in 2014. If you assume Under the Cap's numbers in Jeanna's article are accurate, then add in the money saved by cutting Stephen Nicholas, Garrett Reynolds, and Asante Samuel, the Falcons will have some flexibility in free agency. In fact, Over the Cap currently estimates the Falcons will have about $12.5 million in cap space.
I wasn't a math major, and calculators make me angry, but long story short, the Falcons could have almost $10 million in cap space to play with. This is true before they cut any additional veterans, and let's be honest, there's a distinct possibility that happens.
Your thoughts?
Update: As was pointed out below, Under the Cap hasn't yet adjusted for Tony Gonzalez ($7 million in cap savings) and Garrett Reynolds ($1.4 million in cap savings) coming off the books. That means the Falcons are currently around $20 million in cap space. Free agency is going to be fun.