The recovering health of Julio Jones will be a main headline that plays out during training camp for the Atlanta Falcons. Last season, the wide receiver was leading the league in receiving yards before suffering a foot injury that ended his season prematurely. The result was a struggling Falcons offense that ended with a 4-12 record. Now getting healthy once again, could Jones' bounce back play into his contract negotiations?
Jones had his fifth-year option picked up, but the team would ideally like to get him locked down to a new contract sooner rather than later. Owner Arthur Blank and general manager Thomas Dimitroff have made it known they do not intend for Jones to even be able to did one toe into the free agency pool and they are not even considering his injury to be a factor in negotiations.
"No. I will not get to free agency. They gave up a lot for me and they know how hard I work. They're not going to let me go. And I love Atlanta, I love being here," Jones said, via the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
The Falcons must first shift their focus to veteran wide receiver Roddy White and his expiring contract. The franchise-leading wide receiver is entering the final year of his current deal and also has no plans on heading elsewhere. With offseason workouts officially wrapped up, the Falcons are expected to pick back up on negotiations and White is likely to earn a deal similar to that of Chicago Bears' wide receiver, Brandon Marshall. The veteran earned a three-year, $30 million with $23 million in guaranteed money. Jones expects the offense to suffer is White is not extended.
"A lot of double team. I'd get double-teamed every game. It's gonna be difficult. But I think Roddy's going to be there. He wants to play three more years with us," Jones said.
Right now, the wide receiver is focused on being healthy and ready by Week 1 of the season. During the offseason he spent time with Dr. James Andrews and underwent a procedure that should help heal his injuries permanently. Jones had a similar injury during the 2011 NFL combine and recovered just fine. He is expected to do the same this time around. Jones noted that the reoccurring injury will not a play a role in how he plays this season.
"That doesn't play a part at all in my thinking or my mindset,'' Jones said."I just get back in the weight room and work hard; continue to do what I've been doing. I'm just doing a little extra stuff because I was out for seven months and I wasn't able to run. So I had to do other things to get my quads even stronger than my hamstrings, and that's why I started doing back-squatting and doing a lot of other stuff.''
So far, quarterback Matt Ryan likes where he sees out of both Jones and White during offseason workouts. The quarterback remains confident the team can completely bounce back after last year and expects both receivers to be in top form.
