Falcons Will Exercise Julio Jones' Fifth Year Option

There was never really doubt that the Falcons would exercise Julio Jones' fifth year option or agree to a long-term deal with the gifted wide receiver, but the team did make us sweat a little.

The Falcons are exercising the fifth year option on WR Julio Jones. #RiseUp pic.twitter.com/Q9bpDWsEeH

— Atlanta_Falcons (@Atlanta_Falcons) April 29, 2014

Even if contract extension talks don't develop in the near future, the Falcons have now assured they'll have Julio's rights through the 2015 season. It was a no-brainer, given his talent and production when healthy, and he's undoubtedly one of the team's few offensive building blocks over the next several seasons.

The fifth year option will pay Julio the average of the top ten players at his position, which is likely to slot in somewhere a little north of $10 million. The team will hope to get an extension done before then.

Jones was on pace for a monster year until he broke a screw in his foot against the Jets. To my knowledge he's still not running yet, but as of now, there aren't any roadblocks to him being ready to go for Week 1. Let's hope that continues, and we get to see a healthy Julio wreaking havoc on the NFL in 2014.

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