Among the many things that went wrong for them on Friday night, the Atlanta Falcons' pass rush was completely toothless against the Denver Broncos, and that was with James Pearce Jr. on the field. The team won't have Pearce for the first eight games, plus Jalon Walker is out for the year with a torn ACL.
This prompted the Falcons to sign former Pro Bowler Za'Darius Smith to a one-year deal worth $6 million including incentives that could bring the total to $8 million.
Smith is well past his prime at this point but literally any body on the edge is an improvement right now. The move gives the Falcons at least a little breathing room for their beleaguered defensive front-seven. It also takes a healthy chunk out of their available cap space for the 2026 season.
According to figures at Over the Cap, the Falcons had roughly $35.64 million before the Smith signing, so that should put them around $29.64 million heading into the second week of the preseason.
Atlanta likely wants to save as much of that money as possible for the regular season in case injuries and opportunities pop up, but there's still enough cash to make another splash signing before the games begin.
Right now, edge is still a high roster priority, but the Falcons also have holes at defensive tackle and wide receiver.
This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: How much cap space do Falcons have after signing Za'Darius Smith?