According to Adam Schefer:
Major moves in ATL: Falcons are releasing CB Dunta Robinson, RB Michael Turner and DE John Abraham today.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 1, 2013
The Turner move had long been expected so there is no surprise there. I had speculated about the release of Dunta Robinson on the PFF radio show the other day. Robinson never lived up to expectations and was set to count for $9 million against the 2013 salary cap. $3 million of his salary would become fully guaranteed if on the roster on March 17th. Abraham was a bit of a surprise. He is still a productive pass rusher and had 10 sacks last season. We had his cap number at $7.25 million which is pretty cheap for a player that can get after the passer.
Releasing Turner saves the team $6.9 million in cap room, Robinson’s release saves the team $6 million and the Abraham cut takes $5.75 million off the books. That totals $18.65 million in savings. They will be replaced by 3 minimum salary players making the net cap gain $17.435 million that can now be spent in free agency.
My gut feeling is that there will be a great deal of Darrelle Revis and Dwight Freeney speculation now that these moves have been made. Atlanta knows they are a close team and could look for two impact players like that as the missing piece to the puzzle. I will update the Atlanta Falcons salary cap pages within the hour to reflect the releases.