Roddy White and the Atlanta Falcons intend on continuing their nine-year relationship. The wide receiver is about to enter the final year of his contract with the team that drafted him in the first round back in 2005 and has every intention of finishing his career with Atlanta. Despite the injury-plagued 2013 season, the Falcons plan to get White signed to a new extension in the offseason.
The all-time leading receiver for the Falcons has been a product of durability until this season. He saw his lengthy starting streak this year after suffering ankle and hamstring injuries in the preseason. This year was a exception as he recorded just 711 yards after six-consecutive seasons of putting up over 1,000 yards. In an effort to lower his $6.325 million salary-cap hit, a contract extension is in the works.
"I hope it gets done,'' White said, via ESPN.com. "If it doesn't, I have one year left on my contract. I'll play it out and I'll go from there. But I want to be here, no doubt about it. I've spent my whole career here. And I love the organization. I love everyone in it. So that will be the next step. But I do know this is a business. Things happen.''
The feeling is mutual between the two parties. General manager Thomas Dimitroff is making White's extension a priority this offseason. After firing both the offensive line coach and defensive coach, Dimitroff said the team has every intention of keeping White for as long as he wants to play football.
"Roddy's made it very clear that he wants to be back here for the duration of his career and he's obviously been a beyond-fine football player for us,'' Dimitroff said. "So we're hoping that he will be able to do that.''
The question now becomes how much longer White sees himself playing in the league. the 32-year-old has played the last few seasons next to tight end Tony Gonzalez who played 17 strong seasons in the league. White does not know if he can pull that off, but he does predict that he will return next year fully healthy and can likely continue that for a few more years.
"How many more years? I think three or four,'' White said. "I don't want to be an ironman like Tony [Gonzalez]. He was blessed to go through his stint in the NFL because 17 seasons is a long time to play football, man. I was thinking if I could just get 10, I'll be all right.''
The Falcons must get this extension done in the offseason, not only to reduce their salary cap tightness, but wide receiver Julio Jones will be needing a new contract next year. Jones is clearly developing into the alpha dog of the wide receivers and will be earning a top-dollar deal next offseason, so getting White his money now will make that effort much easier.
