Falcons wide receiver Roddy White is entering the final year of his contract and extension talks with the team were expected to pick up following the draft, but the two sides have reportedly decided to put them on the back burner after White’s half-brother was killed earlier this month.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports that neither side feels comfortable hammering out the details of a new deal while White is mourning the loss of Tyrone Moore Jr. Per the report, the two sides will let that process play out before getting back to the negotiations.
Despite the delay, both the Falcons and White’s camp are reportedly optimistic that a deal can be struck by the start of training camp. Rapoport suggests White could be looking for a deal in the neighborhood of the three-year, $30 million extension Brandon Marshall signed with the Bears, but the situations are different. Marshall is a couple of years younger than White, who turns 33 in November, and isn’t coming off the injury-plagued year that White experienced in 2013.
Julio Jones’ contract will also need some attention in the near future, adding another wrinkle that will likely impact any deal that White signs whenever he winds up signing it.