Part 2 of the Falcons’ major midsummer contracts can soon be removed from the franchise’s checklist. The Wednesday negotiations between Drew Rosenhaus and the Falcons apparently went quite well, with Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reporting (on Twitter) Deion Jones agreed to a four-year, $57MM extension.
The fourth-year linebacker will receive $34MM guaranteed, Schefter adds, with Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reporting (via Twitter) part of that guarantee will be an $11MM signing bonus. The $34MM figure will also include $25.8MM fully guaranteed at signing, Florio tweets. Jones will receive $35.5MM in the first three years of this re-up, Albert Breer of SI.com tweets. The Falcons and Rosenhaus met today in Atlanta to finalize the deal.
This extension falls in between C.J. Mosley‘s lofty Jets pact and the field, with the $14.25MM average making Jones the league’s second-highest-paid off-ball linebacker. It comes in nearly $1MM north of Anthony Barr‘s Vikings deal, in terms of AAV. Regarding fully guaranteed money, this pact trails only Mosley’s $43MM figure and Luke Kuechly‘s $27MM amount.
Two days after the Falcons locked up Grady Jarrett through 2022, they have their middle linebacker signed through 2023. Now, the focus will shift to the team’s highest-profile player. Julio Jones and the Falcons have been working on a new deal, one that will almost certainly make the All-Pro the league’s highest-paid wide receiver, for months. Arthur Blank‘s “Falcons for life” trio is two-thirds extended, but Julio Jones will end up with the biggest contract out of this triumvirate.
Although Deion Jones missed 10 games due to injury last season, the 2016 second-round pick has anchored Atlanta’s linebacking corps since his rookie season. Pro Football Focus graded Jones as its No. 14 linebacker last season; his placement was even higher during a 2017 Pro Bowl slate. The 24-year-old ‘backer has recorded 297 tackles, eight interceptions and three pick-6s in his 37-game career.
Wasn’t the Falcons one of the worst last season? Seems pretty expensive to lockup players that came in at the bottom of the league.
All their good defenders were hurt most of the year.
The vast majority of their talented younger players were hurt at various points of last season. In regards to theor defense, I certainly wouldn’t judge much off of last year..
They’ll have Beasley and McKinney coming off the edge, plus Grady Jarrett and Crawford in the middle. That’s a very solid d-line they’ll have at their exposure, but their issue might end up being their depth. Even so, they’ll definitely have some studs starting..
Their LB group will feature a healthy Jones, who is one of the best up and coming young LBs. Him and Cambell, who will be playing for his own new contract should form a very good duo.
Trufant, Oliver, and Kazee will primarily male up their CB starting unit. Oliver and Kazee aren’t extremely experienced, especially Kazee switching frI’m his former FS role, but even though their lacking in experience, it is a very talented group. Add in another talented youngster like Sheffield, and their CB group very well could look a lot better this year.
One of their best units is surprisingly their Safety duo of Neal and Allen. This is where having these guys healthy will make a HUGE difference for the Falcons. Both are ball hawking playmakers that aren’t afraid to hit or make big plays. Even so, they’re both very solid tacklers, and don’t just gamble ending up in big plays..
With a healthy Beasley, Jones, Neal, Trufant, Allen, McKinney, and Jarrett this defense should look A LOT different this season. Don’t be surprised if it’s their defense that really holds down the fort for Atlanta on their way to a possible playoff push!!
It really doesn’t matter what the W-L record is. If you don’t reward your best performers your going to kill team morale and discourage any free agents from coming to your stingy organization.
I believe they were top 8 defense the season prior…lost a lot of starters last season and had a lot of other players playing out of position. I bet they sneak back into top 10 this year
What’s the cap situation looking like?
Currently ranked 10th with $25,567,742 according to Spotrac.