After an offseason spent principally ignoring the high-profile wideouts in the free-agent pool, the Atlanta Falcons finally landed a proven receiver for first-year quarterback Michael Vick on Friday, with ESPN.com learning that the team has reached an agreement with Willie Jackson.

The eight-year veteran, who is coming off a career year with the New Orleans Saints, will sign a three-year contract worth $3.5 million. Jackson will earn about $1 million in 2002.

Jackson, 30, visited with Atlanta officials and coaches Tuesday and Wednesday and the Falcons made him just a one-year offer for the league minimum of $650,000. Obviously, the team upgraded the proposal in the past few days. Jackson turned down a two-year, $2.5 million proposal from the San Francisco 49ers a month ago.

Atlanta officials, who also met with former Cincinnati Bengals starting wide receiver Darnay Scott on Thursday, were determined to land a veteran wideout by Friday. The team, like most franchises, opens training camp in two weeks.

The addition of Jackson, who arguably becomes the Falcons' top receiver by default if nothing else, signaled the end to Jeff Graham's short tenure with the club. An 11-year veteran, Graham missed much of the offseason program because of off-field problems and was a no-show at this week's mandatory mini-camp. He finally was waived by the Falcons on Friday.

The much-traveled Jackson, who began his career as a fourth-round choice of the Dallas Cowboys in the 1994 draft, will be joining his fifth NFL team. Last season represented a breakout year for Jackson, as he caught 81 passes for 1,046 yards and five touchdowns. The receptions and receiving yards represented career bests.

While not necessarily a pure deep threat, Jackson is a savvy receiver who knows how to move the chains, but one who can also get open up the field on occasion.

For his career, Jackson has 259 catches for 3,384 yards and 23 touchdowns. He has spent time with the Cowboys (1994), Jaguars (1995-97), Bengals (1998-99) and Saints (2000-2001). Jackson has played in 101 games and started 37 of them. Until last season, when he started all 16 games, Jackson had never started more than 10 contests in a season.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.