Falcons expecting nose tackle at camp

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Posted 5:55PM on Monday, July 21, 2003

FLOWERY BRANCH, GA - Nose tackle Ellis Johnson has told the Atlanta Falcons that he will report when the team opens training camp Friday in Greenville, S.C. Players are required to check in by midnight Thursday at Furman University, but the Falcons are taking a wait-and-see attitude with Johnson, who abruptly left a mandatory mini-camp July 10 without telling any player or team official. ``I have spoken with his agent, and it appears Ellis has reconsidered,'' Falcons chief administrative officer Ray Anderson said Monday. Johnson, whose contract runs through 2005, returned to his family farm outside Indianapolis before workouts began at team headquarters 12 days ago. Neither he nor his agent, David Levine, has returned phone calls placed by The Associated Press. Anderson said Falcons owner Arthur Blank, head coach Dan Reeves and vice president of football operations Ron Hill each spoke with Johnson, who last year described being apart from his wife and two children as ``the hardest thing I've ever had to do.'' Blank, Reeves and Hill did not meet face-to-face with the eight-year veteran, who chose to keep his wife and two small children in Indianapolis after Johnson asked for and was given his release last August. The Falcons appear unwilling and unable to offer more money, given that they were only $881,000 under the NFL salary cap earlier this month. Anderson indicated, though, the team has no interest in handing Johnson a $10,000 fine the maximum allowed under the league's collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association for missing both days of mini-camp. ``It's been an organizational effort to assure him that we would like him to be a Falcon and that he would be welcome back on Thursday,'' Anderson said. ``I'm optimistic that he will do as he has said and report to camp ready to go and get after it.'' The interior of Atlanta's defensive line is arguably the team's thinnest position. Starting nose tackle Ed Jasper (lower back) and Travis Hall (abdomen) are both recovering from offseason surgeries that forced them to miss the monthlong passing camp that ended June 24. Hall is listed as the first backup to starting left end Patrick Kerney. Neither Ryan Watson, a former practice squad player, nor Floyd Black, an undrafted free agent from Harding, has taken a snap in the NFL. Johnson, 29, was a first-round draft pick of the Colts in 1995. He played a considerable role on the Colts' defensive line from 1995 until last August, when he decided his talent was ill-suited for schemes employed by new coach Tony Dungy. Atlanta signed Johnson to a three-year, $4.3 million contract Sept. 1. After Johnson told Reeves he wanted to retire after Atlanta was eliminated from the NFC playoffs, the Falcons extended his contract another year. Johnson, a former standout at Florida, is due a $1.25 million salary this year, $1.5 million in 2004 and $1.45 million in '05. He started two of 13 games last season, finishing with 51 tackles and seven sacks, second only to Kerney's 10.5.