Report: Devonta Freeman Could Be Cut By the Falcons

Sports Illustrated — Falcons RB Devonta Freeman (cap savings: $3.5 million): Freeman’s issues since signing his deal in 2017 (he hasn’t posted a 1,000-yard season since and averaged 3.6 yards per carry in 2019) are another cautionary tale on paying backs. Atlanta will have to carry $6 million in dead money. But given their cap situation, every dollar counts.

Albert Breer, in this week's MMQB, lists Devonta Freeman as one of the players across the NFL likely to be cut this offseason.

The Falcons chose to pay Freeman after the 2017 season and let Tevin Coleman walk after his rookie contract expired the following season. Coleman wasn't anything awesome in his first year in San Francisco, but in Freeman's two years under his new deal, he has totaled just 724 yards on 198 carries — Freeman played just two games in 2018 due to injury.

I know most teams will continue to not listen, but please, for the love of God, stop paying running backs. It doesn't work.

There is probably only one back in the entire league right now worth signing to a long-term extension and it's Christian McCaffrey. Just about every other back in the NFL is replaceable with a rookie who can make next to nothing for five years and then move on to the next one.

I'm just glad that on a team seemingly perpetually in desperate need of offensive and defensive line help, the Falcons will now be forced to cut Freeman and eat $6 million and still go find a new running back. Simply another flawless decision made by everyone's favorite general manager Thomas Dimitroff.