The Falcons had a bit of a conundrum with Dante Fowler heading into 2021. The veteran pass rusher is coming off a forgettable 2020 season where he had just 3 sacks and 23 pressures in 14 games, a massive dropoff from his 11.5 sack, 58 pressure 2019 season with the Rams. Atlanta had to decide whether they wanted to cut ties and further weaken an already depleted defensive end rotation, re-work his contract for some cap relief, or just move ahead with the contract as is and hope for the best.
It appears they chose option #2, and per Jeff Schultz at The Athletic, Fowler will be taking less money this season in order to reduce his cap hit and stay with the team.