Mark WiedmerIt seems everyone wants to choose sides in the Julio Jones-Atlanta Falcons contract stalemate. And that's completely understandable.
It's hard for some folks to feel sorry for a guy making eight figures a year not being happy with that paycheck to play a kid's game. It's equally hard for others to accept the fact fairly talented Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan can make more than twice as much as the ridiculously talented Jones.
Both arguments have their very valid points. But what if nobody's right and nobody's wrong in this increasingly public dispute?
After all, the Falcons certainly did their part to make Jones happy in 2015 when they signed him to a contract extension of $71 million ($46 million of it guaranteed) that still has three seasons remaining on it. At the time, that contract made the former University of Alabama standout the highest-paid receiver in NFL history.
Trouble is, Jones is no longer the game's highest-paid receiver, even if many regard him as the best or second-best receiver in all of football, depending on how you view the Pittsburgh Steelers' Antonio Brown.
Instead, Jones is ninth among NFL receivers in annual contract average, which is where the problems start. Another wound: His $10.5 million payday for the upcoming season will be only the fourth-highest salary among the Falcons.
Given this, if you're Jones - who has always been a quietly proud, reliably low-maintenance performer - you want to be paid what others think you are worth. You want No. 1 or No. 1-A money. Or as cinematic wide receiver Rod Tidwell, portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr. in the movie "Jerry Maguire," once shouted: "Show me the money!"
(Or, failing that, show me the team that will pay me the money I believe I deserve.)
Recent stats strongly back up the belief Jones is as good as there is right now at his position. According to ESPN, the five-time Pro Bowl selection has the highest yards-per-game average of all time (minimum 500 catches) at 95.3. Assuming he plays, he'll be looking to produce his fifth straight season with 80-plus catches and 1,400-plus receiving yards, which would set an NFL record. His 2,853 receiving yards the past two seasons are the most in the NFL over that period of time.
This is also where all of this gets tricky, for the Falcons brass doesn't have to make only Jones happy. It has more than 40 other players who need to feel good about themselves and their organization if Atlanta expects to reach the Super Bowl for the second time in three years.
General manager Thomas Dimitroff and head coach Dan Quinn may have gone a little overboard this past winter when they made Ryan the highest-paid player in NFL history with that $150 million contract, because other than perhaps Ryan, his wife, his kids and his relatives, does anyone anywhere think the Boston College graduate is better than New England's Tom Brady, Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers or New Orleans' Drew Brees as Ryan begins his 11th NFL season?
But that deal's done. And Ryan may soon find himself overtaken within the NFL's Ridiculously Rich Club by those three or others. That's life - at least it is unless your agent can somehow convince your employer to commit to a deal that will always pay you one dollar more than any other player at your position.
Had uber agent Jimmy Sexton done that for Jones, this discussion wouldn't be happening. Instead, the Falcons signed Jones to the highest-paid contract at his position at that time, a deal that everyone considered more than fair three summers ago.
Now Jones seems determined to either rewrite that contract or sit out, despite the fact that blowing off the start of training camp Friday will cost him $40,000 a day and failing to show up for the team's four exhibition games will cost him $617,647 per contest, which equals his once-a-week salary in the regular season.
It's worth noting Falcons owner Arthur Blank doesn't seem overly concerned about the situation.
He told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday that, "(Jones) is going to be a Falcon for life. I'm convinced of that, and so is he. We'll take it from there. But we are all focused on the same thing. I think that we are in good shape."
But perhaps to reiterate the club's position that Dimitroff and Quinn would not so much as remotely consider any new contract for Jones until after this season, the Falcons also announced contract extensions for both men through 2022 on Wednesday.
If that was meant as a wake-up call to Jones, so be it. But he could also take it as a strong-arm tactic, and he doesn't seem to be fearful of those at this moment.
Yet Blank also told the AJC, "If (Dimitroff and Quinn) need help, they'll ask for it."
Whatever you think of Jones and his threats to sit out the season, if this potential championship campaign is to go the way Falcons fans hope, Atlanta's GM and head coach might want to start asking for Blank's help today by issuing their future Hall of Famer as close to a blank check as is possible.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.