Coming off a disappointing, injury-riddled season, the Atlanta Falcons are locking up several key members of their core this offseason. The two most recent re-signings by the Falcons are defensive tackle Grady Jarrett and linebacker Deion Jones.

Jones, 24, led the Falcons in tackles during both the 2016 and 2017 NFL seasons before missing a significant amount of time last season due to injury. The former second-round pick out of LSU is considered to be one of the elite coverage linebackers in the NFL. When Jones played last season, opponent QBR was 35 points lower, opponent point per game was 5 points per game less, and opponents averaged 77 fewer yards per game on the Falcons. These stats are a good reason why the Falcons are rewarding Jones with a new four-year, $53 million extension.

Jarrett, 26, appeared one week ago as if an extension with the Falcons would not be reached by Monday’s extension deadline for franchise-tagged players. Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff made sure that would not be the case.

“As we have said since the end of the season, getting a deal done with Grady has been a priority and we are pleased to have accomplished that today,” Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff said in a statement. “Grady is an integral part of our organization and we look forward to moving together for many years to come.”

Ricardo Allen, a free agent safety whose played all four seasons of his NFL career for the Falcons, emphasized in a statement just how important Jarrett is for the Falcons defense.

“Grady’s back there so fast that he’s the first m—–f—– the quarterback is running from,” Allen said. “Grady’s productive, man. He’s one of the best defensive tackles in the league, bro.”

For the Falcons, three seasons removed from a heartbreaking loss against the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, hope that these moves will once again make them one of the elite teams in the NFL.

Just hours before Monday’s 4 p.m. ET deadline for players on franchise tags to reach a new contract extension with their teams, the San Francisco 49ers have announced that they have reached an agreement with kicker Robbie Gould on an extension worth two-years, $10.5 million. The contract also contains an option clause, that would raise the value to a four-year, $19 million contract with $15 million guaranteed.

Back in April, it looked as if Gould’s time with the 49ers was coming to an end. Gould, 36, demanded a trade away from the 49ers to a team that would be willing to sign him to a contract extension and not keep franchise tagging him. Even after Gould made it public that he wanted a trade, the 49ers still told reporters that they would not honor his trade request. Now in July, it looks like John Lynch made the correct move.

It became believed that Gould was interested in a trade to return to his former team, the Chicago Bears. Over the past two seasons as a member of the 49ers, Gould has been living in a hotel near the 49ers team facility in Santa Clara, California, while his wife and kids lived in their house back in Chicago. With the signing of this extension, expect the Gould’s to purchase a full-time home during the coming months in California.

In his two seasons so far as a member of the 49ers, Gould has been one of the better kickers in the NFL. Gould has hit 72/75 field goal attempts since signing with the 49ers and led the NFL in field goal % last season at 97.1%.

https://twitter.com/OSf49ers/status/1150762488108998656

Gould’s contract extension is expected to be the only one reached by Monday’s deadline across the NFL among all tagged players. Some big-name players who are expected to not reach a contract extension today are  Jadeveon Clowney of the Houston Texans and Grady Jarrett of the Atlanta Falcons.