Atlanta Falcons will have to pay Ryan Schraeder
By John Buhler
The Atlanta Falcons’ offensive line improved greatly in 2015. Part of the reason for that was right tackle Ryan Schraeder, who is due for a pay increase.
The Atlanta Falcons no longer have one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL entering 2016. Offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan and offensive line coach Chris Morgan’s zone blocking scheme turned this once-porous front five from the 26th best in the league to the fourth best in football in just one season, according to Pro Football Focus.
Pro Football Focus attributed much of the Atlanta Falcons’ 2015 success up front due to offensive line coach Chris Morgan and the surprising ascendance of right tackle and third-year pro Ryan Schraeder, who Pro Football Focus had as a first-team All-Pro.
Schraeder played part of his collegiate career at nearby Valdosta State before coming to the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent in 2013. He enters 2016 free agency as a restricted free agent, meaning he could end up signing with another team if the Falcons aren’t willing to match the increased pay.
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Ryan Schraeder’s 2015 NFL salary was $585,000 and the Atlanta Falcons need to decide what type of tender they are willing to offer their standout right tackle. He’s not going to end up making Bryan Bulaga money, as the highest-paid right tackle in football for the Green Bay Packers at $6.75 million, but Ryan Schraeder could end up more than doubling his pay in 2016. Eight of the NFL’s top eight right tackles make at least $5 million annually.
ESPN’s Vaughn McClure wrote that a low-level tender on Schraeder would cost the Atlanta Falcons roughly $1.69 million. McClure believes that the Falcons are willing to use a second round tender on Ryan Schraeder worth upwards of $2.47 million for a one-year salary.
This would mean that if another team would want to sign Schraeder, they would have to give up a second round pick for him, pretty remarkable given his former UDFA status. A first round tender would cost the Falcons around $3.54 million.
By signing the tender, it would have Ryan Schraeder one a one-year deal with the Atlanta Falcons in 2016 before he enters unrestricted free agency in 2017, where he could make potentially something in the ballpark of Bryan Bulaga if Schraeder has another monster season at right tackle for the Atlanta Falcons in 2016.
Odds are that the Atlanta Falcons will want to keep both of their starting tackles for the long-term in Schraeder and former No. 6 overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft left tackle Jake Matthews, who also grew considerably under Chris Morgan and Kyle Shanahan in 2015.
The rationality behind probably offering Ryan Schraeder a second-round tender is that it would serve as a nice pay bump for the fourth-year pro, while leaving some extra cash for the front office to help bolster the interior of the offensive line. Atlanta could use an upgrade at center over Mike Person, but the guard duo of Chris Chester and Andy Levitre were solid in their first year in Atlanta.
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The front office definitely has some decisions to make, but keeping a player that Pro Football Focus deems as an All-Pro in right guard Ryan Schraeder seems like a logical choice for the Atlanta Falcons brass to make this impending free agency period.