The Falcons have informed Julio Jones that they have no plans to give Julio Jones a raise before the 2018 season starts, Jeff Schultz of The Athletic hears. However, the Falcons maintain hope that Jones will report to training camp next week. 
The Falcons have never renegotiated a contract with more than one year left on a deal, and Jones has three years to go on his pact. The Falcons are apparently holding the line for now, even though Jones is a transcendent talent. Instead, they’ll focus on extensions for players like defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, left tackle Jake Matthews and safety Ricardo Allen, all of whom are entering their walk years.
The Falcons have told Jones that they are willing to discuss his deal after the 2018 season, Schultz hears. The Falcons may feel that is a solid compromise given their position on early extension talks, but Jones may not see it that way.
After skipping the Falcons’ voluntary offseason program and mandatory minicamp, Jones watched Rams wide receiver Brandin Cooks ink a five-year, $80MM contract earlier this week. The new money average gives Cooks a higher average salary, even though he is not as accomplished as Jones. That development has almost certainly rankled the Falcons star.
Falcons training camp begins on Wednesday afternoon with the first practice scheduled for Thursday.
I mean, 3 years left on his deal and he’s a no show? Julio is not gonna get much sympathy from anyone right now.
Very true. It might be different if like J.J Watt he had donated a million to hurricane victims. Maybe he can do some volunteer work at a food shelter while the rest of the team is in camp and gain a proper perspective of how lucky he is.
Players want the security of a long term deal, sign their deal, then they holdout? I’m tired of players in general not honoring the contract they agreed to with all of the standard “it’s about respect and security and this job is dangerous” talk. Man up and honor what you agreed to!
I’d agree with you, except for the fact that teams can terminate a contract at any time and be off the hook for remaining obligations. Teams don’t have to :man up and honor what they agreed to”, so why should the players?
That said, the NFL has an absolutely toothless union. Amazed to see average NBA players getting massive fully-guaranteed deals, but the NFL players union is a joke.
If a player doesn’t hold up their end of the deal, they should be subject to something. If that’s being fired, so be it. How is it any different than you & I in our jobs?
If I sign a contract to work and I don’t perform or I’m in the bottom of the company in terms of value, shouldn’t I expect to be fired, let go? I’d think so.
He’s an employee who gets paid a lot of money to catch and run.
He signed a contract, honor it. If you want the most money, go year to year. If you want security, take a little less, be less of a burden on the books per year and sign a multi-year. But you can’t always have your cake and eat it too.
I’m struggling really hard to find sympathy for Julio Jones. In fact, I’m not even sure I can find any.
If you get hurt on your job do to the nature of the job, your employer is still required to pay you, in the NFL that’s grounds for termination so their white slave owner can make billions.
Your performance little to do whether they cut you or not. You can exceed expectations, BUT if you count too much against that cap, then they will cut you. So, that reasoning is flawed at best. Only thing guaranteed about NFL contracts is the signing bonus or guaranteed money in the contract.
Hey T.. finally, something we agree on ! Nice
Well said on the year to year vs multi year. Player has to own the risk of performance decline or injury if the want max dollars every single year, but with the risk of a steep drop off in pay (aside from veteran minimums and what not) by not taking a little less in AAV to net years of security.
I disagree. Teams do man up: they pay the contract according to what the agreement is that the player reviewed with his agent, signed and committed to. A player is educated with what is or isn’t guaranteed money in their contract. They’re not the victim here but end up acting like one.
It is interesting to see how NBA and MLB has fully guaranteed deals. Maybe Kirk Cousins’ deal this offseason will start a trend that way with future deals if the player warrants it. Would sure be easier to look at salary cap implications if that’s the case!
It’s ludicrous to compare the NFL with the NBA. A pro football player sees more contact in one day at camp than most round-ballers experience during their entire career.
Contact rate in your respective sport has nothing to do with contract rate. You sign a deal that you’re educated about, you honor it. That applies across all leagues.
Julio is upset that there are several receivers getting more money than he is and they do not measure up to Julio’s production. However, he did sign a contract, and the Falcons should be held up because other teams were stupid enough to over pay lesser qualified receivers.
Mister 3 tds last year with 3 years left. I’m thinking his body has taken a beating and he needs new monies before the birds find out he ain’t what he used to be? Just a guess
Correction = Falcons should not be held up
Julio Jones signed a 5 year, $71,256,045 contract with the Atlanta Falcons, including a $12,000,000 signing bonus, $47,000,000 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $14,251,209. In 2018, Jones will earn a base salary of $10,500,000, while carrying a cap hit of $12,900,000 and a dead cap value of $4,800,00. Are you kidding me? If he’s unhappy, trade him!!!