Austin Hooper is going to get paid this offseason, but the jury is still out on who will actually be the team forking over the dough. His current club, the Atlanta Falcons, does have the inside track at retaining him for 2020 as the Falcons have the power to place the franchise tag on him, but clearly the Pro Bowl tight end is looking for a much longer commitment. 

As he explained this week from the Pro Bowl, such a deal has yet to be put on the table.  

"My whole attitude is that it will end up the way it's supposed to," Hooper told Caleb Johnson of 92.9 The Game when asked about his contract status. "I did my part, ended up here at the Pro Bowl. If the organization wants me, they'll offer me. I still haven't received an offer from them. If and when they're ready, they know who to hit and I'll let my representation and the representation of the Falcons handle it. 

"As of now, I'm just enjoying what could be my last game as a Falcon down here at the Pro Bowl."

Hooper suited up in 13 games for the Falcons in 2019 and turned in a career year. He hauled in 75 catches on 97 targets for 787 yards and six touchdowns. The 6-foot-4, 254 pounder has all the makings of an elite pass-catching tight end, which is a position that has become critical across the NFL. For example: Both the 49ers and Chiefs, who are slated to meet in Super Bowl LIV, prominently highlight their star tight ends in George Kittle and Travis Kelce. That trend doesn't go unnoticed by the rest of the NFL and teams will surely make compelling offers to Hooper in the event that the Falcons allow him to get to the open market. 

On Tuesday, Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff did acknowledge Hooper's pending free agency at the Senior Bowl, but simply noted that they were "trudging along."

"I'm sure you guys are waiting to ask more about Mr. Hooper. The reality right now is that we are trudging along," Dimitroff said, via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Once we get back from the Super Bowl, after the Super Bowl week we'll continue to look and see how we are moving forward. But at this point there are no updates on Austin."

Dimitroff also point out that the franchise tag is an option, but the team has not decided on that at this point in the offseason. No matter if the Falcons use the franchise tag as a placeholder or not, Hooper looks to be in a position where he's paid handsomely. Spotrac projects his market value to earn him a contract somewhere in the range of a five-year deal worth a total of just under $50 million. That puts him right in the same stratosphere as Kelce in Kansas City and Philadelphia's Zach Ertz