Falcons almost $15 million under salary cap

Other anticipated moves would free up even more space.

The Falcons will have $178,321,399 for the salary cap in 2018, counting their carryover money. The official salary number was released by the NFLPA on Tuesday. The salary cap was set at $177.2 million.

The Falcons made two moves to save $7 million under the cap by releasing tight end Levine Toilolo and defensive end Derrick Shelby last week.

Currently, the Falcons’ top 51 contracts total $163,507,634 and they have $14,813,765 million under the salary cap. Free agency starts on March 14. Teams can talk to agents on Monday.

The Falcons are negotiating a contract extension with quarterback Matt Ryan. Extending Ryan could lower his salary cap number from $21.6 million to between $9 million to $12 million depending on the structure of his deal, according to CBS sports business analyst Joel Corry, a former NFL agent.

The Falcons are expected to re-negotiate guard Andy Levitre’s contract to lower his $8.3 million cap number.

Another salary cap casualty candidate is defensive end Brooks Reed. By cutting Reed, the Falcons could save $3.6 million.

Other cap casualty candidates include quarterback Matt Schaub ($3.25 million) and wide receiver Mohamed Sanu ($3.1 million).

Draft slots assigned: The NFL released the official order for the April 26-28 draft in Arlington, Texas.

The Falcons have seven draft picks with the addition of a seventh-round compensatory pick. They traded their fifth-round pick to Denver for backup tackle Ty Sambrailo last year.

Here are the Falcons’ official positions:

■ Round 1, 26th overall;

■ Round 2, 58th overall;

■ Round 3, 90th overall;

■ Round 4, 126th overall;

■ Round 6, 200th overall;

■ Round 7, 244th overall; 256th overall.