Here’s what Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones had to say after Saturday’s practice:
On his earring situation:
"Yes, I did not hire anyone like a dive team. I did not do that. It was insured. I was fine. I didn't get thrown off of anything. I jumped off the jet ski so that's cleared up. As for football, training camp is going well. Young guys are buying in. We're flying around just one day at a time. We are working on chemistry right now and gelling together."
On how his foot feels right now:
"My foot is great. We are just being smart. I still get my conditioning in. I run routes and do things. I'm in and out of the huddle. I'm in the scheme and just everything right now. Today was the first day of pads. I'll probably do a little more tomorrow, but we're just taking it one day at a time with me. They know what I can do. We're not here to rush anything or anything like that, but the overall goal is obviously to be ready to go by the start of the season."
On whether his teammates gave him a hard time about the earring:
"No, we were in camp so we were really just happy to see each other. After the long break, we were just getting back and greeting each other saying 'Hey how has it been?' and 'What's new?'. We really didn't make a big deal out of it. It's not a big deal."
On what it meant to be voted the best receiver in the NFL by his peers:
"Yeah, it was good. It felt great to be recognized by your peers. They think so highly of you, but that was last year. This is a whole new year. I'm at training camp right now trying to get better."
On what getting one percent better means for him:
"I always work on everything with me. My one percent is pretty much everything like getting off the ball, studying, and attention to detail. What do I do when I'm fatigued? Do I run with my hands down or am I keeping them up with the ball? It's just a lot that I do and I love to play the game and not have weaknesses."
On the defensive adjustments made against him and the Falcons' scheme:
"We are high-powered. For me, I get a lot of two-man. They'll throw some crazy coverages in here and there. We are very talented on offense, so when you try to take me away, we've got a lot of guys on the other side that can go out there, make plays, and make you pay."
On whether the offseason surgery gives him more peace of mind:
"I'm way confident now. I've always been confident. Just talking to the doctor and he's telling me I'm good to go. I'm a football player and things happen. I don't let an injury or something hold me back. Once I talk to a specialist, whether it's Bob Anderson or whoever does my surgery, and he gives me the go-ahead, I'm going. I'm always confident."
On whether he has adjusted to younger players asking him questions at camp:
"I've always been a coach since I got here. Matt Ryan did a great job with me and was a great mentor for me. I just carried it on to the younger guys. Probably my second or third year, I started playing and then we used to critique each other saying 'You could have done this better or that better'. I always keep an open mind. I'm never to that point where I can't take coaching from the other guys. If I run a route and they say 'You could have done this', then I can let them know what I was thinking. What were you thinking on this? Why did you do this and just having a better understanding of your players."
On whether the offseason felt different after last year:
"No. Not at all. I did what I always do in the offseason. I travel. I enjoy myself. I enjoy family and family vacations. I hang out with the guys. We did our Miami trip and everything was the same. It was nothing different. It wasn't like there was something different because the last game was the Super Bowl. All that stuff is last year. We are really focusing on this year and just gelling as a unit this year."
On Reggie Davis and the coaching he has done with him:
"With him, he's a very talented guy. He's a young guy with great speed and is a competitor. His things are just being able to get off the ball, how to get off, how to run routes, and staying tight to defenders. It's just small things because he has it all, but it's the attention to detail and those smaller things. Once he does those and cleans them up, he'll be a great player."
On how Davis is working on his speed:
"He's working on his speed? He's not working on his speed. He's fast. He's definitely not working on his speed. He can go. When you are a fast guy like that, a lot of times the defense will back up because they're nervous of your speed. The big nightmare is don't get beaten over the top. With every route you run, you have to threaten them deep and show them 'Hey, I'm going on a go ball'. Then, it's just building up his strength and his ability to stop when he's running full speed like that. It will create a lot of separation for him."
On how good Mohamed Sanu and Taylor Gabriel can be this season:
"We've just got to keep working. Those guys can be the best receivers in the league at what they do. For Sanu, he's already great at something. He's just got to work on the other things now like deep threats and being a deep threat, which he can do. Last year, we didn't show a lot of that for him. Taylor Gabriel is another one. His thing is that he's a deep ball threat for us and he can work on smaller, intermediate routes. Everybody just tries to work on everything to not have a weakness. When this guy is in, 'Oh, he's just a go-ball runner' or 'Oh, this guy is in and he's just a choice runner'. Just completing their whole game and that's what we've been working towards."
On what he thinks of Andreas Knappe coming over from Denmark to pursue his dream:
"It's fantastic for him to come here. The Falcons gave him an opportunity here. He's just got to make the best of his opportunity. It's a lot of people. We come from everywhere in different parts of the world and different situations. He just has to make the best of it."
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