Dan Quinn weighs in on Julio Jones missing June minicamp

The talk of the town this week around Falconland has been WR Julio Jones skipping out on June minicamp in wake of a looming contract discussion.

Falcons head coach Dan Quinn caught up with ESPN’s Vaughn McClure after the day’s first minicamp session and was neither here nor there on Jones’ status.

The team’s coach also shared some thoughts with Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter D. Orlando Ledbetter, saying that “sometimes, business and football intersect. That’s okay; that happens a lot.”

He also weighed in on what Jones missing would mean for the team’s planning process in implementing new wrinkles to the offense, saying that he knows Jones and Ryan will get their reps in one way or the other.

The head coach of an NFL team is never going to be super thrilled with a franchise face missing any time at all, particularly if it’s the player’s call, so don’t expect Quinn to be too publicly empathetic. Privately, Quinn’s also the type that will understand why Julio’s doing what he’s doing; he’s not a jerk. It’s not the most favorable of conditions for Quinn for sure, but he’s got the kind of relationship with the players around to see their side of things.

For now, the Falcons will work to get Mohamed Sanu and Calvin Ridley a good bit of Julio’s reps, and they’ll trust Jones to make sure he’s doing what he needs so that when training camp rolls around, he’ll be ready for action, and caught up. Jones has always been the most professional of professionals, so if anyone is prepared to take care of business on both sides of the ball this summer, it’s the Jet.

So, we’ll continue to wait this one out, and cross our fingers that Julio gets all of this resolved before training camp kicks on in late July. If we’re still in the staring contest by then, you might feel a bit nervous about the time missed. But, y’know, not that nervous. This is Julio Jones we’re talking about.