Report: Andy Levitre’s re-structure creates $2.5 million in cap space

Andy Levitre re-structured his contract, and my assumption was that the Falcons would see savings in exchange for additional years on the contract. Somewhat surprisingly, only one half of that equation is true.

The Falcons apparently carved out about $2.5 million in cap space, total, by re-structuring Levitre’s deal. That appears to be the price he’s paying to stay on the team, because there’s no reports of additional years on the contract. That means that Levitre could very well be playing his last season in Atlanta, likely as the starting left guard once more.

This is a smart move for the Falcons, who get a little more space to tackle free agency and extensions and don’t have to make a major change at guard for the second straight offseason. The team has been strongly linked to draft-eligible guards, and they could very well take Levitre’s 2019 replacement this year. With a rookie, Wes Schweitzer, and Sean Harlow, they’ll have a young group with some real promise if Levitre’s gone next year, not to mention a pretty affordable group.

So long as Levitre is healthy, he’s a mortal lock to start again, leaving a potential rookie and Schweitzer to duke it out at right guard. With any luck, the offensive line will again be a relative strength for Atlanta, which is going to be looking for much better results on offense.