The Atlanta Falcons have been serving up new contracts this week like their a hot item on the menu. One of the recipients of a new deal was Deion Jones—who the Falcons are excited to get back this season.

Mike Tannenbaum, an ESPN Front Office Insider, pointed out that Atlanta's defense receives a major boost with Jones on the field. Tannenbaum said the Falcons had 18 sacks in the six games that Jones played in 2018.

In the other 10 games, the team had just 24 sacks as a unit. It seems like Jones is a very important piece to the Falcons defense and the linebacker is expected to be ready for training camp after returning from his foot injury late last season.

In 2018, Jones suffered a foot injury that forced the Falcons inside linebacker to be placed on injured reserve. Although, Jones would return in Week 12 after being sidelined for 11 weeks.

For the Falcons, they played exponentially better with Jones anchoring the defense in the middle. In his six games last year, Jones had 53 tackles, two interceptions, a forced fumble, two interceptions, and a touchdown. Those numbers are why the Falcons were comfortable giving Jones a four-year, $57 million extension.

Getting to the quarterback was tough for the Falcons when Jones wasn't present on the field. Now, Atlanta will have Jones, Keanu Neal, and Ricardo Allen all returning from injuries in hopes they can play in Week 1.

For 2019, Dan Quinn is expected to call the plays on defense after the defense had issues in 2018.

Now, the defense is seemingly ready to get back on track in 2019 with Jones leading the way.