Falcons WR Jones loses $100K earring, hires dive team

Jul 26, 2017 - 8:13 PM As if losing the Lombardi Trophy by coughing up a 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl wasn't enough, Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones lost a $100,000 earring on a jet ski this week.

Jones emerged from a ride on the motor-propelled personal watercraft on Lake Lanier in Georgia and noticed one of his massive diamond-stud earrings dislodged when he crashed into the water. Jones otherwise was unharmed during the joy ride.

Jones' jeweler told WXIA-TV in Atlanta the gem was worth between $100,000 and $150,000. The 28-year-old All-Pro has earned $51.71 million since entering the NFL as the sixth overall pick in 2011. His 2017 base salary is $11.5 million. That's about $179,687.50 for every quarter of football over 16 regular-season games.

"It was worth a little bit," Jones said of the earring in a television interview.

Jones hired a dive team to retrieve the bling from the bottom of the 65-foot deep lake, but salvage diver Richard Pickering said after his attempting recovery mission that it was more like Mission: Impossible.

"It's down in crevasses and nooks and crannies," Pickering explained. "It's impossible -- absolutely impossible."

Jones and the Falcons reported to training camp Wednesday. He said the earring was replaceable.

"As long as I'm good, it's materialistic stuff," he said. "You can always get that kind of stuff back."