Falcon top pick Jerry remains without a deal

By D. ORLANDO LEDBETTER

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

With training camp set to open Saturday, contract negotiations between the Falcons and Peria Jerry, their first-round draft pick, are heating up.

“We are very confident that things are going to get taken care of by the opening of camp,” Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff said Tuesday. “We are in the middle of discussions right now, and things seem very positive.”

The Falcons have signed their other seven draft picks. However, the financial slotting in the first round has yet to settle because only three of the 32 picks have signed.

“Given the way the rounds, outside of one and two, go in the NFL, the other rounds were expedited,” Dimitroff said. “They were done in a very fair and sequential manner.”

The Falcons expect the first round to start shaping up soon.

Jerry was selected with the 24th pick overall. Last season, Tennessee selected running back Chris Johnson with the 24th pick, and he received a five-year, $12 million deal, of which $7 million was guaranteed. Johnson has base salaries of $295,000 in 2008 followed by $385,000 in 2009, $550,000 in 2010, $800,000 in 2011 and $960,000 in 2012.

“We’re like everybody else in the first round,” Dimitroff said. “I think they’ll start to come together in the next few days.”

Calls to Jerry’s agent, James “Bus” Cook, were not returned Tuesday.