Inside The Huskies

McGary Agrees to 3-year, $30 Million Extension with Falcons

The former Husky offensive tackle has really made the NFL pay off for him.
Dan Raley|
Falcons offensive tackle Kaleb McGary (76), the former Husky, has agreed to a contract extension.
Falcons offensive tackle Kaleb McGary (76), the former Husky, has agreed to a contract extension. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

There was a time when Kaleb McGary's family went bankrupt and lost a five-acre farm, suffered a house fire and incurred all sorts of medical setbacks.

Well, life simply can't hurt the former University of Washington offensive tackle or his loved ones anymore.

On Monday, McGary and the Atlanta Falcons agreed to a two-year contract extension worth $30 million -- one that eventually will put his career earnings just shy of $100 million after he enters his seventh NFL season, all played in the largest city in the South.

The 6-foot-6, 331-pound McGary has started 92 games and been a fairly dependable blocker for the Falcons, using those talents to bring him untold riches to counteract the struggle he and his family endured during his childhood.

Most NFL teams are willing to pay whatever it takes when they find somebody who can hold his own in the trenches -- and McGary has been unfailingly productive in his dedicated service to the Falcons.

Entering the final year of his current contract, McGary had insisted when he arrived for training camp that he wasn't concerned about the ongoing negotiations, that things would work out.

“Any time they want to pay me, you’ll never find somebody more willing to be paid in all your life," McGary quipped. "But honestly, I’m not really worried about it. I’m worried about the season. If I don’t do my job well enough, then there's not much reason to worry about it.” 

Yet the Falcons moved diligently to re-sign the Fife, Washington, product and were able to secure his services. After all, he and his peers up front will be entrusted with protecting second-year quarterback Michael Penix Jr., a former UW football player same as McGary.

Operating at right tackle, McGary started 47 games while at Washington and helped the Huskies advance to the College Football Playoff semifinals against Alabama in the Peach Bowl in 2016 -- ironically in Atlanta.

In 2023, he signed his first NFL contract extension that was worth $34.5 million over three years. This season, he is due to receive $14.5 million. Then it's time to tack on that additional $30 million.

As a UW player through the 2019 Rose Bowl against Ohio State, McGary wasn't shy about discussing the ongoing family struggles back then, breaking it down in detail in a Seattle Times story.

Everyone at home should be well cared for now and beyond.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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