There will be no contract dispute between the Falcons and defensive tackle Grady Jarrett this year.
The Falcons announced today that Jarrett has signed his franchise tender. The sides are expected to keep negotiating a long-term deal, but if that doesn’t happen he’ll play this year for a one-year guaranteed salary of $15.209 million.
“As we have said since the end of the season, getting a deal done with Grady is our priority,” Falcons General Manager Thomas Dimitroff said back in March. “Applying the franchise tag to him does not change that in any way. Our aim is for Grady to be an integral part of our plan for many years to come and this allows us to extend our negotiating window.”
The deadline for franchised players to sign a long-term deal is July 15. If the two sides can’t reach a deal, the Falcons’ options a year from now would be either to franchise him again, this time for a guaranteed base salary of $18.25 million, to work out a long-term deal in 2020, or to let him walk in free agency.