Any concerns about attendance for the rest of the Falcons’ 2019 offseason program should be laid to rest with today’s news.
According to a report by Ian Rapoport at NFL Network, middle linebacker Deion Jones, defensive end Vic Beasley, defensive tackle Grady Jarrett and wide receiver Julio Jones have all reported to Flowery Branch in preparation for mandatory minicamp, which begins tomorrow.
Coach Dan Quinn told the media last week that he expected to see everybody in attendance, but he admitted he was not sure if Jarrett would show. Jarrett has signed his franchise tag but only has another five weeks to work out a long-term deal or else he’ll play out the 2019 season for $15.2 million, greatly limiting Atlanta’s salary cap flexibility.
Julio is also working out a restructured deal that is projected to make him the highest paid wide receiver in the NFL, topping $20 million a year.
The Falcons were also reported to be working on an extension with Deion Jones back in March, but there have been no updates since.
As for Beasley, he’s the only one of the four that’s not actively involved in extension talks. Atlanta is understandably hesitant about giving him a long-term deal given his struggles over the last two seasons. The team fielded several trade offers for him last fall, but in the end decided to keep him.
Beasley is still a good candidate to be traded, because he’ll cost the team $12.81 million in cap room this year if he isn’t moved. He passed on attending (voluntary) OTAs in order to continue training on his own, which raised some eyebrows given Quinn’s comments earlier this offseason about wanting to work more closely with Beasley.
