Falcons taking calls on Julio Jones

[Dante84]

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.

The #Falcons 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.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 26, 2021

From NFL Now: The #Falcons 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... pic.twitter.com/kZArO6t578

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 26, 2021

The #Falcons have been listening to trade offers for star WR Julio Jones, per @peter_king and @AlbertBreer. 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.

— NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) April 26, 2021

From Peter King:

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.

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by kccrow

So, as much as I'm not on board with trading for Julio I do realize it "could" be brilliant for a couple seasons so I'll at least present a theoretical cap exercise...

Convert 10.5m of Frank Clark's salary to signing bonus. Gives 7.0m in space and adds 3.5m to each year in the next 2, keeping him cuttable (especially after 2022 when I think it'll happen).

Convert 2.0m of Harrison Butker's salary to signing bonus. Gives 1.6m in space and adds 0.4m to each year in the next 4.

Gives the Chiefs about 16,475,208 in space.

Convert 5.7 of Julio's base to bonus, turning this year's hit into 11.50m and each of the next 2 into 14.213 with dead money of 5.4 and 2.7m in respective seasons (easily cuttable if he falls of the cliff).

Leaves the Chiefs with 4,975,208 in space to operate in the season which is near what Veach tries to carry regularly.

The question is draft compensation. No more than a 3rd but the ideal would be a 4th similar to Moss to NE back in the day as much as that may be unlikely.

Worth it to have the BEST offense the entire universe has ever seen.

[lcarus]

Originally Posted by RealSNR

At least it’s not Craphonso

What were the parents thinking with that name?

[ForeverIowan]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I know what restructure means, you mouthy little ****.

Jones is under contract. He is under NO obligation to restructure or agree to an extension of ANY kind.

The Chiefs approached Justin Houston about restructuring in 2019. He refused and was cut.

The Chiefs approached Ty Hill this offseason about restructuring. He refused.

Players don't restructure out of the goodness of their hearts, dumbass.

You are the biggest ****ing moron on this board. They asked Houston to take a MAJOR pay cut. Not a restructure. Just stop posting.

[tredadda]

Originally Posted by ForeverIowan

No point in trying to reason with them. They are utterly clueless.

If Julio is still as good as you are claiming, why can't Atlanta get even a 2nd for him?

[ForeverIowan]

Originally Posted by tredadda

If Julio is still as good as you are claiming, why can't Atlanta get even a 2nd for him?

The same reason Aaron Rodgers wouldn't pull the same draft capital in a trade as Deshaun Watson (pre legal issues). Julio is likely going to be a 2-3 year rental. He isn't going to be a cornerstone of your franchise for the next decade plus. Aaron Rodgers is the superior player currently but won't demand near the same draft capital in a trade market.

For the record I have stated I think the Falcons end up getting more than anticipated and speculated currently. We will find out soon.

[tredadda]

Originally Posted by ForeverIowan

The same reason Aaron Rodgers wouldn't pull the same draft capital in a trade as Deshaun Watson (pre legal issues). Julio is likely going to be a 2-3 year rental. He isn't going to be a cornerstone of your franchise for the next decade plus. Aaron Rodgers is the superior player currently but won't demand near the same draft capital in a trade market.

For the record I have stated I think the Falcons end up getting more than anticipated and speculated currently. We will find out soon.

Rodgers, while he wouldn't have commanded as much as Watson still would have drawn multiple 1st rounders. Julio probably wouldn't cost what a DK Metcalf or Tyreek Hill would cost either. That's not the point. He, at this point, is not even worth a 2nd round pick. For someone as elite as he supposedly still is a second rounder for him is a steal. Teams apparently don't see him as being worth even that.

[FloridaMan88]

Originally Posted by lcarus

What were the parents thinking with that name?

Foreshadowing his crappy NFL career.

[ForeverIowan]

Originally Posted by tredadda

Rodgers, while he wouldn't have commanded as much as Watson still would have drawn multiple 1st rounders. Julio probably wouldn't cost what a DK Metcalf or Tyreek Hill would cost either. That's not the point. He, at this point, is not even worth a 2nd round pick. For someone as elite as he supposedly still is a second rounder for him is a steal. Teams apparently don't see him as being worth even that.

You are comparing a quarterback to a wide receiver though. The NFL MVP quarterback at that. QB driven league. Julio is still an elite wide receiver but he isn't going to pull comparable draft compensation as an elite QB. Keep in mind DeAndre Hopkins was just traded for a bag of footballs at 27 years old (yes I know it was an all-time horrid trade).

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by ForeverIowan

Please...enlighten us all...how was that post a fail? When Julio is traded his deal will be restructured. Period. Do you disagree? Your boy over there just continually says OVER and OVER the deal isn't possible from a financial perspective which couldn't be further from the truth. You don't want to give up the draft capital? Fine - I understand. Just please stop acting like you understand the cap when you very clearly do not.

So let me get this straight.

Instead of taking the 1 year $15M cap hit, your plan is to trade away 2nd and 3rd round picks for a 32-year old WR with an injury history and actually make him MORE expensive down the road, so that cutting him gets harder over time instead of easier.



And for the record, it's always been about BOTH the money AND the draft picks. They're both part of the deal and part of what it would take to get him. You want to split it up to make it sound like people are being unreasonable but the reality is that it's too much to give up, in terms of money AND draft picks, for a 1-year rental of a guy that might actually not be able to play a full season.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by -King-

Most restructures are automatic and even if they're not, they're welcome by players because they get the money immediately.

Why if Julio was traded here, would he refuse a restructure?

Julio Jones' 2021 salary is fully-guaranteed.

There's absolutely no reason for him to restructure. He's guaranteed to get all $15M this season, no matter what.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

So let me get this straight.

Instead of taking the 1 year $15M cap hit, your plan is to trade away 2nd and 3rd round picks for a 32-year old WR with an injury history and actually make him MORE expensive down the road, so that cutting him gets harder over time instead of easier.



And for the record, it's always been about BOTH the money AND the draft picks. They're both part of the deal and part of what it would take to get him. You want to split it up to make it sound like people are being unreasonable but the reality is that it's too much to give up, in terms of money AND draft picks, for a 1-year rental of a guy that might actually not be able to play a full season.

A 1 year rental of a hall of famer who's 1 year removed from 6 consecutive 1300+ seasons? Yes please. Even in his injured year last year he was dominant.


It's weird how the $15 mil this year was such a sticking point to you and now, finding a way to reduce if is also a sticking point. So you just don't want to pay him at all huh?

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

This conflating of Kelce as a WR is just out right dumb.

Sure, he has many of the qualities of a great WR but he lines up as a TE on the field and plays the TE position so therefore, he is NOT a Wide Receiver.

Was Tony Gonzales a WR? Antonio Gates? Is Zach Ertz a WR? How about Greg Olson or Jimmy Graham?

The answer is no, same as Kelce.

I don't give a ****. He's used out wide and gets WR targets. Stick to Hollyweird and music

[-King-]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Julio Jones' 2021 salary is fully-guaranteed.

There's absolutely no reason for him to restructure. He's guaranteed to get all $15M this season, no matter what.

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

If Jones was a free agent and the Chiefs had signed him to 3/$36, we’d go nuts. That’s basically his current price.

I wonder if they could do something where they shift some 2021 salary into a bonus and add some guarantees to get him to re-do it?

Signing bonus: $15M

2021 base: $5M (fully guaranteed)
2022 base: $8M (5M guaranteed)
2023 base: $10M (5M guaranteed)

This gets him a slight increase in total pay as well as more guarantees and 3 cracks at a SB ring.

Not sure it’s enough motivation for him to change the deal, but it would work a little better than the current structure for KC.

And yes I'd be willing to add more guaranteed years to get a future hall of famer who has had 1 non all pro season in his last 7. Or figure out how to extend Mathieu and take the whole 15 mil this year. Either way works.

[Dante84]

What if we gave him 131 posts, guaranteed on signing netting him a minimum of 1,000?

The structure could look like:
869 posts (paid by Atlanta)
2021: 100 posts (guaranteed)
2022: 30 posts (again, guaranteed)
2023: 1 post (also guaranteed)

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by ForeverIowan

Holy Shit! Do you not know what a restructure means? Let me spell it out for you as CLEARLY as possible. Julio gets the same amount of money. THE.EXACT.SAME.AMOUNT. The team that trades for him simply shifts that money around over a certain time period to best suit their current and future needs/plans.

KC can only do a restructure after he’s a member of their team.

For the trade to be completed, we would need the cap space to cover his base salary. 15.2m.

Now, Atlanta could restructure the deal to facilitate a trade, but that would be the owner writing Julio a check for millions of dollars to leave...and that money would go straight to dead money fir them...not improving their situation.