The Atlanta Falcons released veteran quarterback Marcus Mariota in a move that will free up more salary cap space and also will allow the team to move on from a quarterback that wasn’t able to hold his starting job, according to ESPN’s Michael Rothstein.
Mariota started the first 13 games of the 2022 season for the Falcons prior to being benched in favor for rookie Desmond Riddler, who would go on to start for Atlanta during the final four games of the season.
Mariota, 29 then left the team to have a procedure done on his knee and was placed on injured reserve and with the release the Falcons saved $12 million on it’s cap for 2023, adding to their second-most cap space in the league at a little over $56 million, prior to the release of Mariota.
“When we did his contract originally, it was structured in that way to where we would make a decision after the season and the way that the [salary cap] number was going to go up,” Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot said at the NFL Combine.
Mariota threw for 2,219 yards, 15 touchdowns and 9 interceptions for the Falcons last season, adding 438 yards and touchdowns on the ground.
