Julio Jones was willing to pay $84,435 to not work out with Matt Ryan at the Falcons minicamp this week.
But apparently he has no problem with going somewhere else, presumably on his own dime, to work out with him.
Via Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com, the Falcons quarterback said he expects Jones to be at the private workouts he has conducted pre-training camp.
They’ve generally gone to South Florida but Ryan didn’t reveal details of the trip, but made it clear he hoped to see his top wideout, who has stayed away from Falcons workouts while hoping for an upgraded contract.
“There’s probably about 12 of us that are going to get together in the month of July, and he’ll certainly be a part of that,’' Ryan said. “We’ll have an extended period where we get some work together. You know, that’s something that we’ve done in the past. The past couple of years, we were down in Miami.
“This year is a little bit later due to kind of my offseason, but we’ll still have that chance to work together. And I think that will be really productive for us.”
Ryan just became the father to twins, so he pushed the passing camp back later in the offseason. The quarterback also downplayed the time it would take to catch Jones up on the changes to the offense this year, as second-year coordinator Steve Sarkisian has tweaked some things.
“I don’t think that will be difficult,’' Ryan said. “He’s such an incredible player, such a talented player. And he’s been working hard. He’s in great shape. I think he’ll pick those new things up really quickly. And he’s got a lot of time on task with 95 percent of our system. So, he knows this system inside and out. He’s always extremely well-prepared. And I’m confident and positive he’ll be ready to go.’'
Jones has three years and $35 million left on his old contract, but other recent deals in the wide receiver market have made his shrink in comparison.