Special Teams
New England Patriots-$10,215,585
Atlanta Falcons- $6,761,273
While Stephen Gostkowski has seen his field goal percentage decrease over the years, he is still the highest paid kicker in the NFL. He makes $4.3 million. On the other hand, the Falcons’ Matt Bryant and Matt Bosher are also in the top 5 of kickers as they make approximately $5.9 million.
Other
New England Patriots- $14,425,695 (Reserve) and $17,986,104 (Dead Money)
Atlanta Falcons- $15,073,914 (Reserve) and $25,473,694 (Dead Money)
[Jon]
Let us first look at the Reserve list for both teams. Unfortunately, both teams were hit with the injury bug in many aspects. If you look at the Patriots, you don’t need to look farther than Rob Gronkowski. Although he is one of the better tight ends in the NFL, he has been hit with the injury bug as of late as it seems that he can’t stay on the field for a full season. On the other hand, the Falcons are without cornerback, Desmond Trufant, who has been sidelined with a torn pectoral muscle since week 10.
The Dead Money area is an interesting concept to look into. Its sole purpose for being around is for players who either get traded, released, or retired and are still under contract with the team.
For the Falcons, when they released Roddy White they were still paying him his $6.4 million. On the other hand, the Patriots have a lot of their dead money wrapped up in Jared Mayo, who retired in 2015, and Chandler Jones, who was traded to the Cardinals in the offseason.
I found these numbers that CBS provided to be interesting as it showed you how these teams were constructed over the off-season. I noticed that a lot of the Falcons players are still on rookie deals, but they are still one of the better teams in the NFL. Tune into Fox on Sunday night and watch the Atlanta Falcons take on the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI.