Julio Jones has been the topic surrounding the Atlanta Falcons since the draft, and head coach Arthur Smith was asked if he expects Jones to be at mini-camp when the full team arrives.
Smith was anything but definitive with his response.
“We have conversations all the time with all our players,” said Smith. “There’s good communication going back and forth through multiple avenues. We’ll see what happens next week.”
“I can answer that for you next week.”
There has been relentless speculation that Jones would be dealt this summer, fueled by Jones himself when it appears he was caught off-guard in a phone conversation that was taking place on live television.
Falcons fans has been waiting until the June 1st cut period arrived to see if a deal had been struck already, but it appears the Falcons aren’t in any rush to move Jones preferring to wait for the right offer.
Atlanta will have to make some sort of salary cap move(s) in order to bring in their rookie class including Jones’ presumed replacement Kyle Pitts. As it stands, the Falcons don’t have enough room under the cap to even sign their draft class.
An extension or re-working of Grady Jarrett’s contract is still on the table as well in order to get some cap relief.