Atlanta Falcons team owner Arthur Blank says the team is close to signing a contract extension for wide receiver Julio Jones, who needs the cash to purchase a new car.
“Atlanta wide receiver Julio Jones is close to signing ‘one of the major contracts in the NFL‘ with the Falcons, team owner Arthur Blank said on Monday (h/t al.com). The former Alabama standout needs to use some of his new cash to buy a Mercedes-Benz, Blank added.”
It wouldn’t be for just any old car, however. Jones needs the money to purchase a Mercedes-Benz, Blank stated. Why must Jones’ new car need to be a Mercedes? That is because the team announced that the future home of the Atlanta Falcons will be called Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Therefore, to properly represent the new stadium name, Jones needs to be driving and parking a Mercedes in the player’s parking lot. A BMW or a Ferarri just won’t cut it.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Blank introduced Steve Cannon, the CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA, stating this (via the team’s official website):
“Our family office is less than 50 yards from here, and when I drove in and parked this morning, I noticed not all the cars in the garage were Mercedes-Benzs. That was a little disappointing to me. It’s a challenge to you and your organization. I did introduce two of our great players here today, Matt Ryan and Julio Jones, and I know that Julio, who is about ready to sign one of the major contracts in the NFL with us, drives a different automobile. You might assign one of your great salesmen, starting with you, to him before he leaves today.”
As for a new deal for Jones, who is playing out the fifth-year option of his rookie contract, he could be close to inking something in the neighborhood of the five-year, $70 million deals that wide receivers Dez Bryant and Demaryius Thomas recently secured.
At this point, Jones is on course to earn approximately $10.18 million, which equates to the average of the 10 highest salaries wide receivers earned in 2014. The team seems extremely motivated to settle a deal with Jones prior to the start of the 2015 regular season. While we don’t know what numbers are exactly being crunched, we can be sure Jones will be able to purchase whichever and how ever many Mercedes-Benz his heart desires.