Arthur Blank has expressed confidence that a long-term deal will soon be reached with Devonta Freeman.

During an appearance on Atlanta's 92.9 The Game, Blank praised Freeman for being an integral part of the franchise.

Freeman is going into the final year of his rookie contract and is due to make $1.797 million in 2017.

Thomas Dimitroff has said numerous times he expects something will be worked out with Freeman leading into training camp in late July.

"As far as No. 24 is concerned, I think Freeman -- actually just sent me a text the other day about something -- he is the kind of person you want to have on your team for all the right reasons," Blank said. "He's a great player. He's a great individual. He's cares about the community. He cares about his teammates. He's very responsive to coaching. There's nothing about Devonta that I don't love.

"And I know that Thomas is working hard with him and his agent (Kristin Campbell). I feel very confident that we'll be able to work out something with him for a long-term solution, fairly soon I think. It's just a matter of timing. You can't do all these big deals all at once; not even for financial reasons but they take time. ... The relationship we have with the player is critical. It was with Desmond (Trufant). It will definitely be that way with Devonta. It will be that way in the future with any of our other players as they come up."