FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn said he knew for a while that five-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Julio Jones would report to training camp despite the ongoing contract dispute.
The team announced late Wednesday night that a contract adjustment had been made to Jones' current deal to boost his scheduled $10.5 million salary for 2018 rather than reworking the deal with three years and $34.426 million remaining. The adjustment is believed to increase Jones' salary by at least $2 million, and general manager Thomas Dimitroff said the Falcons plan to renegotiate the contract in 2019. Jones initially signed a five-year, $71.25 million contract in August 2015 that included $47 million guaranteed.
Jones officially reported to training camp Thursday.
Quinn got a sense about Jones returning for training camp when the wide receiver joined Matt Ryan and other offensive teammates for a week of workouts in California starting July 16. Jones did not show for mandatory minicamp or offseason workouts.
"I probably didn't feel the same stress that you and the fan base had," Quinn said. "I know there were some reports out regarding him not coming. ... I've known he was coming to camp for a while. And that's part of good communication, player to coaches. It wasn't necessarily where I was not expecting him to be here.
"But I am glad, between Thomas and their side, usually, when there's something to get done, they work together and find a way to figure it out. I think that's a good example between Thomas and Jimmy [Sexton], who is Julio's representation."
Dimitroff classified the talks while discussing why the sides couldn't resolve the issue sooner.
"It was never contentious at all, at least from our perspective it wasn't," Dimitroff said. "And I never got that feeling from Jimmy Sexton. ... You can have win-win solutions. They don't have to be contentious."
Dimitroff started Thursday's news conference by explaining how the Falcons felt optimistic through the entire process.
"We were very confident with our communication over the offseason," Dimitroff said. "As you all know, this is an organization led by Arthur Blank who believes in culture, who believes in taking care of business, taking care of our people, taking care of the players in the right away and treating people the right way. Because of that culture, our approach to this, it all fell in line for us. And we felt like we came to a good agreement.
"We were very creative with how we put this together. This adjustment is cap-neutral and still allows us to continue to focus on the other players we're focused on [Jake Matthews, Grady Jarrett, Ricardo Allen] signing [to extensions] in the relatively near future."
Dimitroff said Blank did not intervene in the contract talks.
Quinn hadn't yet talked to Jones as of Thursday afternoon. Dimitroff said the contract adjustment is ready for Jones to sign.
"I'm not waiting over at his dorm," Quinn said with a laugh.
A reporter asked Quinn what chances the Falcons would have had at the Super Bowl without Jones.
"It'd be hard ever to say no one is nonreplaceable in that way," Quinn said, "but it definitely gives you a better shot."
The Falcons conduct their first training camp practice Friday morning.