Julio Jones is worth the price of admission

Julio Jones is worth the price of admission and Falcons owner Arthur Blank understands that.

Before moving forward, let’s recap where the Atlanta Falcons and Julio Jones were a year ago. Julio was holding out for more money on the premise that he had outplayed the deal he had signed just a few years prior.

Thomas Dimitroff and Arthur Blank could have told him tough s*** and fined him for everyday he didn’t show up and no one would have blamed them. Matter of fact, most of the media and fans in Atlanta wanted the Falcons to take that stand. No way was a wide receiver worth that kind of money.

We heard every reason – the highest paid wide receiver never won a Super Bowl or an MVP award. Cool, both of those statements are very true, but neither applies to Julio.

Julio is different. He isn’t just another elite receiver. He is THE elite receiver and when combined with Matt Ryan together make everyone around them better. Julio’s impact, like Matt’s, extends well beyond the field.

As Blogging Dirty stated in June, Julio’s agent, Jimmy Sexton, was waiting for the market to be reset. He, like the rest of know, the market was going to be reset – and that happened. Last week, the Saints and Michael Thomas agreed to a deal that gave the fourth year wide receiver $61 million guaranteed.

If Michael Thomas is worth $61 million guaranteed, Julio is the first wide receiver worth $100 million. No one thinks that Julio will get $100 million in guarantees, but he will get somewhere in the area of $70 million guaranteed.

He is worth every penny.

Julio isn’t a talker, he is a shower. He shows up every Sunday and is prepared to do whatever it takes to win. Julio has never been a “ME” type of guy, which is an anomaly among the position group known as divas. NFL media are quick to put Brown, Beckham, Hopkins, Evans and several others in Julio’s category and while they are great receivers they aren’t Julio and are not capable of being him. Those guys require flash and Julio is just substance.

Julio Jones is as close to Jerry Rice as we have seen in 30 years. That is factual and there is no disputing that statement. He will be a big reason the Falcons bring home their first Lombardi Trophy in franchise history.

Mr. Blank wants Julio to be two things – the highest paid receiver in the league and a Falcon for life. He controls both of those. When was the last time you heard a pro sports owner say they wanted one of their guys to be the highest paid? That is how much Julio means to this franchise.

The good news, neither side is in a rush and neither side is panicking. A deal will get done and when it does, Julio won’t have to search for diamonds in Lake Lanier anymore.