NEW YORK ¨C Wide receiver Julio Jones told the Atlanta Falcons he won¡¯t attend this week¡¯s mandatory minicamp, the team announced Monday.
¡°We have been in contact with Julio and his representation,¡± general manager Thomas Dimitroff said in a statement. ¡°We will not discuss those conversations publicly except to say we feel they have been productive and constructive. We understand the concerns and thoughts from their perspective.¡±
According to an ESPN report, Jones¡¯ decision to skip minicamp stems from an unsatisfactory response to a contract proposal in recent weeks. Jones has missed the Falcons¡¯ offseason conditioning program and organized team activities ¡ª all of which is voluntary. The minicamp, the team¡¯s final practice before training camp starts in late July, is the only mandatory portion of the offseason, with players who don¡¯t attend subject to fines.
The NFL Network reported in May that Jones would like ¡°some sort of correction or update¡± to his contract ¡ª which still has two years remaining ¡ª adding that the Falcons are ¡°amenable¡± to working something out, in part because of how good of a player and teammate Jones is.
In other NFL news, New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman¡¯s impending four-game suspension for performance-enhancing drug use is a result of him testing positive for an ¡°unrecognizable substance,¡± according to Albert Breer of The MMQB.
Edelman apologized for the positive test in an Instagram post on Friday, saying ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened.¡±
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