Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones, who’s up for a contract extension, said the team and his agent, Jimmy Sexton, have been discussing a contract extension.
“I haven’t talked to them,” Jones said Thursday after checking into his condo at the team’s facilities. “My agent and the Falcons, obviously have been talking. I haven’t been talking. I talked to (coach Dan Quinn) earlier. Me and him are on the same page. He just needs me to be the leader that I am and to continue to work hard.”
Jones plans to be on the field when the team opens practice on Friday.
“I’m just here to work,” said Jones, who caught 104 passes for 1,593 and six touchdowns last season.
With the new contracts signed by Denver’s Demaryius Thomas and Dallas’ Dez Bryant, the market is set for Jones’ deal.
Since the market is now set, it shouldn’t take long to finalize his contract.
Joel Corry, a former agent and sports business analyst for CBS Sports, projects that Jones’ deal should average about $15.25 million per yer.
Jones is scheduled to play the 2015 season under his fully guaranteed $10.176 million option year salary. He’s virtually a lock to receive a franchise tag in 2016 if he doesn’t get a new deal.
The wide receiver franchise tag number will be approximately $14 million in 2016 with a $150 million salary cap, which is less than a five percent increase over this year’s $143.28 million salary cap.
A second franchise tag in 2017 should be around $16.8 million, a 20 percent increase over Jones’ 2016 franchise number under these conservative cap projections.
The average of franchising Jones twice should be $15.4 million per year at a minimum. The $14 million per year average of Thomas and Bryant’s deals is a little less than their two year franchise tag average of $14.1 million per year.
Jones, who was selected with sixth pick overall in the 2011 draft, is a two-time Pro Bowler.
