Today’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
Atlanta Falcons
Baltimore Ravens
Jacksonville Jaguars
Lingering guarantees can be a rough pill to swallow for NFL teams as they move on from players, but the league’s post-June 1 designation allows clubs to spread out the dead money hit over two seasons while reaping greater benefits in the current year. This offseason, five teams took advantage of the rule to carve out some cap space. As Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter) notes, the following clubs now have some extra breathing room to sign draft picks and add veterans in the late stages of free agency: 
The additional cap space will be particularly useful for the Dolphins and Eagles, who have about $400K in cap room combined. The Falcons ($3.7MM),Saints ($4.2MM), and Cowboys ($8.5MM) are also looking forward to the extra fiscal flexibility. The extra cap room may help to jumpstart the free agent market for players such as Dez Bryant, Tre Boston, Kenny Vaccaro, Eric Reid, and others without a home at this stage of the offseason.
The Dolphins have yet to sign any of their 2018 draft picks, including top choice Minkah Fitzpatrick, but you can expect to see some movement on that front once they receive their $17MM reprieve. The Cowboys, Saints, and Eagles have already wrapped their respective draft classes and the Falcons have signed every pick except for first rounder Calvin Ridley, so those four clubs can concentrate on using their extra room for veteran additions, or new deals/contract sweeteners for current players.
Julio Jones has been absent from the Falcons’ organized team activities, leading some to assume that the superstar receiver was leveraging for a new contract. However, Jones told TMZ that we shouldn’t be reading into his no-show.
“We’re good,” Jones said (via Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com). “It’s not even about that. Everyone wants a story right now. There’s no story. I’m just working on getting myself better. There’s no bad blood with the team or anything like that…I’m not going anywhere.”
We heard earlier this month that Jones was seeking a reworked deal, especially after quarterback Matt Ryan signed a record-breaking extension. The 29-year-old receiver is set to earn $10.5MM in base salary this season, and there are a handful of minimal guarantees remaining on the deal. Meanwhile, his $14.25MM average annual salary ranks eighth among wideouts, and Jones is listed behind names like Jarvis Landry, Sammy Watkins and Davante Adams.
While Jones could certainly argue that he deserves to be the highest-paid wideout in the NFL, the Falcons probably aren’t looking to rip up a deal that runs through 2020. ProFootballTalk.com’s Mike Florio said this should realistically be the wideout’s final payday, and “he may have to take a real stand” to get the organization to budge.
On the flip side, as our own Sam Robinson pointed out, Atlanta’s brass has continually been in support of Jones, so there shouldn’t be any resentment between the two sides. Furthermore, owner Arthur Blank and coach Dan Quinn have both said that they aren’t concerned about Jones’ current absence, and it’s believed he’ll attend mandatory workouts.
The receiver is coming off his fourth straight season with at least 1,400 yards, as he finished with 88 receptions for 1,444 yards and three scores. The 2011 first-round pick has made the Pro Bowl in each of his last five healthy seasons.
Ricardo Allen has yet to sign his restricted free agent tender, as D.Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes. The Falcons free safety says he’s waiting things out as he pushes for a multi-year deal. 
“I have a tender,” Allen said. “I haven’t signed it yet. That’s what you all hope for (a long-term contract)…I just take it day by day. I come out here and do my best for the team. I put myself in a good situation and I want to keep going.”
By not signing his $2.914MM tender, Allen is technically putting himself at risk for the Falcons to rescind the deal. From a football standpoint, that’s not much of a gamble after he started 15 games in 2017 and at least 14 games in each of the last three seasons. However, if he were to suffer an injury, that would make his situation a little less certain.
Allen’s position as the only player yet to sign his RFA tender in the NFL this year is a bit curious since the Falcons have some history of signing players to extensions after they ink their tenders. Last year, right tackle Ryan Schraeder inked his second-round tender in March and received a five-year, $31.5MM ($12.5MM guaranteed) extension in November.
Then again, Allen may feel compelled to make noise after the Falcons stated that left tackle Jake Matthews and defensive tackle Grady Jarrett are up next for new deals after Matt Ryan‘s mammoth extension. Wide receiver Julio Jones has also taken notice of Ryan’s new deal and is pushing for a new multi-year contract of his own.
Allen played cornerback at Purdue, but he has responded well to his move to safety under head coach Dan Quinn. In four seasons with the Falcons, Allen has played in 46 games, including 45 starts. All in all, he has made six interceptions, ten deflected passes, one fumble recovery and 158 tackles.
Today’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
Detroit Lions
Kansas City Chiefs
New York Jets
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
As expected, Julio Jones reportedly did not attend the opening day of Falcons organized team activities, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s D. Orlando Ledbetter.
He adds head coach Dan Quinn will address the situation on Tuesday and did not respond to questions about the reports that Jones wants an update to his contract. Though he is absent, the two sides appear amenable and are likely to work things out in due time.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio speculates Jones, who has three years left on his current deal, could be trying to get the team’s attention after Matt Ryan‘s new contract is set to pay the quarterback ($30MM) twice the amount that Jones is to receive ($14.25MM). His current deal slots him in as the No. 8 receiver on the pay scale, behind players like Jarvis Landry, Sammy Watkins and Davante Adams.
Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap says that the word “update” could mean the Falcons moving money forward in Jones’ contract to make the team’s key player happy. On a team in win-now mode, the move could be seen as avoiding potential chemistry issues in the locker room. A recent example of this, according to Fitzgerald, is a similar situation with Antonio Brown and the Steelers.
“The Steelers twice moved money forward in Brown’s contract to prevent a player from being unhappy. In 2015 the Steelers moved $2 million from 2016 up to 2015 and in 2016 they moved $4 million from 2017 into 2016. Overall the team fronted him $4 million and then extended him in 2017.”
Regardless of what the course of action Atlanta chooses to pursue, it is unlikely to hinder it from fielding one of the top three receivers in the league in 2018.
Here’s more from around the NFC:
Julio Jones is entering the third season of a five-year, $71.25MM contract, but the All-Pro wide receiver wants the Falcons to make an adjustment to his deal, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (video link).
Jones is set to earn $10.5MM in base salary this season, and minimal guarantees remain on this deal. The 29-year-old wideout is not expected to be with his team for the start of OTAs, Rapoport reports. He’s been training on his own in Alabama throughout the offseason.
The Falcons do not view Jones’ absence from their voluntary workouts as a major issue, per Rapoport, and are also amenable to adjusting Jones’ deal. Jones is set to earn base salaries of $12.5MM and $11.43MM in 2019 and ’20, respectively. The per-year value of his deal ($14.25MM) has plummeted, and receivers with lesser pedigrees like Sammy Watkins, Jarvis Landry and Davante Adams are now signed to bigger deals.
This does not look to be an acrimonious situation, with Atlanta brass being strong Jones supporters. The Falcons’ top weapon has stacked together four straight seasons of 1,400-plus receiving yards, and from 2013-16, Jones averaged more than 100 air yards per game.
After giving Matt Ryan a record extension, the Falcons possess just more than $5MM in cap space entering OTAs, which begin Monday.
Today’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
Cleveland Browns
Detroit Lions
Los Angeles Rams
Philadelphia Eagles
San Francisco 49ers
Today’s minor moves (so far):
Arizona Cardinals
Baltimore Ravens
Buffalo Bills
Carolina Panthers
Chicago Bears
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns
Denver Broncos
Detroit Lions
Houston Texans
Indianapolis Colts
Jacksonville Jaguars
Los Angeles Rams
New England Patriots
New Orleans Saints
Oakland Raiders
Philadelphia Eagles
Pittsburgh Steelers
Seattle Seahawks
Washington Redskins