Ryan Schraeder gets five year contract extension from Falcons

Ryan Schraeder is one of those fun success stories we all root for, as he went from being an undrafted free agent to a quality starting tackle in pretty short order. Now he’s being rewarded for that with a long-term accord from the Falcons.

Schraeder is basically being paid like a top ten right tackle, because he has been one for long stretches of his short career. Lane Johnson from the Eagles is pulling down an annual average of $11.25 million, but the next closest is the Packers’ Bryan Bulaga, who is earning an average of $6.75 million annually. Schraeder is averaging a little over $6 million in average annual pay, though the guarantees basically make this a three year contract if things go sour. The Falcons are going to have to start paying a lot of players in short order, so you’ll want to take a close look at how this contract is structured, once we know.

My take on the extension is that it’s a smart one, even with the dollars. Schraeder has not had his best year in 2016, but he’s been a solidly above average right tackle for a little while now, has faced a murderer’s row of pass rushers this year, and is still fairly young. The Falcons will be counting on him to lock down that side of the line for a long while, and he’s good enough to do so. Certainly we’ve become familiar with the power of a good offensive line over the course of this season, and if the Falcons let Schraeder get to the open market, he probably would’ve been gone with a fat deal.

Going forward, the line figures to be Jake Matthews, Alex Mack, and Schraeder, with Wes Schweitzer, Andy Levitre, and a potential 2017 draft pick in the mix at guard. As long as the Falcons manage to keep their bookend tackles and dominant center around for a few years, they should be in excellent shape going forward.

Congratulations to Ryan Schraeder! We’ll update you as soon as we have the terms.