Atlanta Falcons: Updating Julio Jones contract would set bad precedent

The Atlanta Falcons have found themselves mired in a contract dispute with Julio Jones, but here’s why updating his deal would set a bad precedent.

The contract saga with Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones is seemingly ever-changing, with news coming out as fast as it can be reported. Thus, it’s hard to know what to make of the situation in its entirety. However, if we could somehow take a step (or maybe two) back and remove ourselves from the noise of the past couple of weeks, you may be able to easily see how this situation should be ending.

Jones should have been traded in the offseason before, during or perhaps slightly after the draft. But he wasn’t and here we are.

Since most fans likely aren’t able to take that step back in the moment, it feels relevant to lay out some seemingly minor events over the last six months that, when stitched together provide a clear picture of the path not taken by the Falcons. More importantly, we’ll look at how, in the long term, it may have set a horrible precedent for Atlanta.

Contract Whispers in January?

Less than a full month after Jones mistimed a Matt Ryan fourth-down attempt that would have most likely sent the Falcons back to the Super Bowl, the mentions of revisiting Jones’ contract began. Not quite the normal protocol for a player that, only two years before, struck a new deal that made him the second-highest paid wide receiver in the game.

This should have been especially odd considering the deal was set to expire in 2020. “Updating” a contract (Jones coined this phrase while fielding questions about his contract negotiations recently) with so much runway left is just something that isn’t often done. In fairness, this could and probably should have caught the Falcons a little flat-footed, but once they determined this was a genuine concern from a star player, they only needed to flashback to 2009 for a very relevant reference point.

That was the offseason that Roddy White decided to hold out. The key differences in this situation were that White was entering into the final year of his current deal. He was also entering into his prime. The 2008 season was White’s second as the leading big-play target for the Falcons and his first Pro Bowl selection, two years before he would be named an All-Pro.

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Not only does Jones have three years left in his current deal, but at 29 years old, we may have also seen his best days on the field. No one doubts Jones’ discipline in an attempt to perfect his craft, but there is an almost definitive shelf life for wide receivers that even someone running a 4.3-second 40-yard dash will succumb to.

When being faced with the choice of either deepening the financial burden of a depreciating asset or beginning the process of moving pieces to maximize cap space and draft position, the Falcons seemingly chose the former.

Social Media Mysteries

In February, there was a downright strange tweet from Jones’ account where he tweeted the bio of a Los Angeles Chargers personnel executive. You know, the kind of thing that happens when you click on something you are searching online and the site you are visiting asks you if you would like to share it and, inadvertently, in an attempt to get that annoying pop up to disappear, you tell everyone in the universe what you are thinking at that moment.

So what was Jones thinking? Only No. 11 knows, because the tweet was promptly deleted and, save for a few threads on Reddit, it has been scarcely commented on. In a courtroom, you would have this piece of evidence immediately thrown out as circumstantial nonsense and, without the following context, it absolutely is. But there’s more to it than that.

In April, Jones created quite a stir in Atlanta initially and eventually nationally by deleting several Instagram and Twitter posts mentioning the Falcons, while also unfollowing several teammates. Again, radio silence from the wide receiver. This is the type of early indicator that has become increasingly reliable in our “social” world, the kind of thing a Kardashian does when they are breaking up with someone possibly before they even tell the other party.

The Falcons should have seen this as a second shot across the bow. This should have been an opportunity for the franchise to gather themselves and make a move or make a stand. You could argue that drafting Calvin Ridley in the first round was their passive aggressive response, and maybe it was.

Either way, this was not a series of meaningless events. Today, understanding the nature and power of our social networks, this was a fracture that should have been triaged.

He’s Just Not That Into You

A non-answer sometimes is an answer in itself. When a romantic interest doesn’t respond to you after several attempts, the silence is actually an answer. Jones not showing up to OTAs in May was blown off as a simple difference in preference. He just wanted to work out in Tuscaloosa right? Be around his alma mater, lead some young guys, give back, etc. Or maybe not.

That could have been a narrative most Falcons fans could get behind, but when mandatory minicamp rolled around, Jones was yet again not in attendance. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said “What you do speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you say”.

Feel free to try to explain Jones’ behavior as inconsequential, I will watch what he does. He does not feel obligated to fulfill a contract he agreed to. He does not value “the brotherhood” over his own financial stature among league peers. He will not report until his contract is “updated”.

Reaping and Sowing

I think the Falcons will flinch first. They are essentially going to negotiate against themselves on a contract that, save a desperate move by a team like the Cleveland Browns, is still a very competitive deal. They are most likely going to give Jones a revised deal that includes either some fresh upfront money or new incentives for the coming season. When they do this, they are setting themselves up for a dangerous game of Let’s Make a Deal in the coming years.

Jake Matthews and Grady Jarrett both have contracts that expire in 2019. Vic Beasley and Deion Jones come up in 2020. I would not typically look out much further than two years, but the Falcons are, so certainly it is appropriate to consider Keanu Neal, who has quickly become a cornerstone of Dan Quinn’s defense, and whose rookie deal expires in 2021.

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Responding to a player’s request to “update” a contract based on external factors is not a practice that the other players will easily forget. It is entirely possible that Julio Jones will produce at All-Pro levels again. You could make a case that his performance should be credited with a newly structured incentive package. It is also equally possible that he has done so without increased financial incentive.

There will likely be news of a new agreement coming soon, Falcons fans can only hope that the residuals of this contract will not rub off on the team’s starting tackle, best interior lineman, league leader in sacks two years ago or the prototypical linebacker and safety for their system. Only time will tell, but clearly the path not taken will be the one the Falcons are forced to revisit all too soon.