| Dante84 |
04-26-2021 05:37 AM |
Falcons taking calls on Julio Jones
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A hamstring injury limited Jones to just nine games last season, though he still put up strong numbers when he was on the field. He caught 51 passes for 771 yards and three scores as the Falcons finished the year 4-12. From 2014-19, Jones missed only four games and averaged 104 catches and 1,564 yards per season. SI Link.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Falcons?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Falcons</a> have received calls from teams inquiring about possible trades for All-Pro WR Julio Jones, sources say. A trade could not happen for cap reasons before June 1, but teams know Atlanta’s brutal cap situation and are calling. A deal won’t happen now, but later? Maybe.</p>— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1386643899859578881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">From NFL Now: The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Falcons?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Falcons</a> have been receiving calls on All-Pro WR Julio Jones, and while it's somewhat unlikely they get the value they would want, it's not impossible. A look at how it would work... <a href="https://t.co/kZArO6t578">pic.twitter.com/kZArO6t578</a></p>— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1386740597604724742?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Falcons?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Falcons</a> have been listening to trade offers for star WR Julio Jones, per <a href="https://twitter.com/peter_king?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@peter_king</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/AlbertBreer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AlbertBreer</a>. Atlanta has one of the worst cap situations in the league and trading Julio effective after June 1st would create $15M in cap space and save the big dead cap hit for 2022.</p>— NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) <a href="https://twitter.com/MySportsUpdate/status/1386642052549644288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
From Peter King:
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Surprises? Keep an eye on Atlanta. I can’t predict any bombshells. But a few things would not surprise me. Most notably, the Falcons putting the framework of a trade together for star wideout Julio Jones, and making the trade effective June 2. That way, Atlanta could split Jones’ cap charge between 2021 and 2022 instead of getting bashed with it all this year. So if such a trade happens, I expect it could involve a future pick or picks, nothing this year. (A future second-round pick as compensation seems fair to me.) Because such a trade wouldn’t be official till June, no picks in this draft could be involved. As for the interested team or teams, I would guess Las Vegas; Jon Gruden couldn’t resist Antonio Brown, and I doubt he could resist Julio Jones. New England too, and a couple of teams with clear receiver needs—Tennessee and Baltimore.
Now, the Falcons don’t really want to trade Julio Jones. He’s a franchise legend. But he’s 32, entering his 11th season, coming off a banged-up year with seven games missed due to injury, and the Falcons are in cap jail. If they could off-load his money and cushion it by splitting it between this year ($7.75 million) and next ($15.5 million), Atlanta’s cap charge on Jones this year goes down by a tad more than $15 million.
One final note here, to be very clear: I am not reporting the Falcons will trade Jones, or will probably trade Jones. I am saying it would not surprise me if it happened.
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