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.

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by RealSNR

I know the expectations were on the lowish side when we brought them in, but Shady and Leveon ended up being kind of worthless for us. Even when dudes ahead of them were injured, they didn't really step up. I think Leveon could have been ok if we got him going as a volume carry RB, but that's not what we run, and thus he wasn't that great of a fit.

I fail to see how Gurley would be any different than those two. In fact, he might be worse.

Our running game is still going to boil down to Clyde and Darrell Williams. That's about it. Unless Darwin Thompson encountered a genie over the offseason and made the wish to not suck as a RB.

At one point we thought Clyde was hurt very badly. Imagine this team with Darrell Williams?

Need more depth there bc Darwin is horrific. Todd Gurley as a backup for cheap is the kind of move they’ve made before because they don’t trust Darrell Williams completely IMO.

I like Darrell but he cuts the playbook down at the position

[-King-]

Originally Posted by RunKC

Julio Jones isn’t even the top player of the Falcons that I would want. Todd Gurley is a FA that is only 27 and got a contract last year for $5 million with 500k of incentives.

That was in April 2020. Getting him this summer is likely $3 million ish.

Would love to have him as a rotational back

LMFAO What the ****?!?!

[PHOG]

[-King-]

Originally Posted by RunKC

People in this thread want to trade a draft asset for a washed 32 year old WR while also paying him a metric **** ton of money.

And keep pushing it despite Dane illustrating why it’s a reeruned ****ing move

That "washed" WR had more receiving yards in 9 games than Gurley had rushing yards in 15 games.


Yeah, I'd rather have Julio.

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

https://www.si.com/nfl/2021/05/26/ma...aiders-packers

Maybe Albert Breer's note on Julio Jones and the Chiefs will knock some sense into people, although I doubt it.

--------

I wouldn’t ever rule out the idea that Chiefs GM Brett Veach could get aggressive at the site of a rare opportunity—and maybe that he’d see the shot to land Julio Jones for less than a first-round pick as one of those. And yes, the idea of Jones, if he can still be Julio, on the other end of Patrick Mahomes bombs is tantalizing, especially when you consider the kind of matchups he might see as a result of playing opposite Tyreek Hill.

But I do think the Chiefs are slowly moving into another phase of their build around Mahomes. The quarterback’s cap number bulges to $35.79 million in 2022, and he’s not the only one who’s going to clog next year’s books. Check these ’22 cap numbers out:

• DE Frank Clark: $26.30 million
• DT Chris Jones: $29.42 million
• WR Tyreek Hill: $20.50 million
• G Joe Thuney: $17.80 million

Add that up, and those five count for $129.81 million against the cap. That’s more than double what the same five count against the cap in ’21 ($62.12 million), and the cap isn’t expected to take its next big jump until ’23, when the new TV deals get factored into the equation. Also, Tyrann Mathieu’s a free agent after this year, Travis Kelce’s cap numbers explode starting in ’23, and K.C. is going to have to look at extending Orlando Brown, too.

Now, the Chiefs can keep pushing money forward, and work it into where many teams expect the cap to go once the new TV money is factored in. But it does feel like at this point, with Mahomes off his rookie deal, Veach & Co. are going to have to start to shift their focus to creating a cheaper layer of players to pair with their group of stars. That means starting to value draft picks more, since the draft is where cheap labor is going to come from.

So in that way, adding Jones would further complicate an already thorny cap situation, while taking away from the capital the Chiefs need to solve it.

/end thread

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Trade Julio for Tyreek?

/DeBerg

Chiefs get Matty Ice, the Falcons 1st, 2nd and 3rds in 22, 23 and 24

Falcons get Mahomes.

[BigCatDaddy]

Originally Posted by RunKC

People in this thread want to trade a draft asset for a washed 32 year old WR while also paying him a metric **** ton of money.

And keep pushing it despite Dane illustrating why it’s a reeruned ****ing move

Nothing to do with you wanting to give 3 million to a rb that averaged about 3.6 ypc the last 2 years.

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by -King-

That "washed" WR had more receiving yards in 9 games than Gurley had rushing yards in 15 games.


Yeah, I'd rather have Julio.

And he’s going to cost a high draft pick + a significant salary cap hit.

This isn’t madden. We have a LT to pay and need youth bc we’re paying a player half a ****ing billion dollars.

And no I don’t think Patrick has options to convert his salary every single year nor does he want to.

FFS man be realistic

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by RunKC

People in this thread want to trade a draft asset for a washed 32 year old WR while also paying him a metric **** ton of money.

And keep pushing it despite Dane illustrating why it’s a reeruned ****ing move

And you want to pay money to a RB who’s knees are ****ing done. What’s your point?

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

And you want to pay money to a RB who’s knees are ****ing done. What’s your point?

Wait, who? Gurley?

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by staylor26

Wait, who? Gurley?

Yeah. $3 million for Gurley as a rotational RB.

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by RunKC

At one point we thought Clyde was hurt very badly. Imagine this team with Darrell Williams?

Need more depth there bc Darwin is horrific. Todd Gurley as a backup for cheap is the kind of move they’ve made before because they don’t trust Darrell Williams completely IMO.

I like Darrell but he cuts the playbook down at the position

Yep, and I'm remembering the days after Clyde's injury.

Everybody said, "Well, that's why you signed Leveon Bell, isn't it?"

And guess who didn't get the ball all that much when we actually needed him the most. Yep. You guessed it.

We have zero reason to believe Gurley won't be the exact same case. If we're looking for backup RBs, then we're better off picking up a bunch of JAGs and seeing what sticks in training camp. That's how we got Damien Williams.

[Dante84]

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by RealSNR

Yep, and I'm remembering the days after Clyde's injury.

Everybody said, "Well, that's why you signed Leveon Bell, isn't it?"

And guess who didn't get the ball all that much when we actually needed him the most. Yep. You guessed it.

We have zero reason to believe Gurley won't be the exact same case. If we're looking for backup RBs, then we're better off picking up a bunch of JAGs and seeing what sticks in training camp. That's how we got Damien Williams.

Letting Damien Williams walk was really puzzling for me. I get he didn’t play for a year but as a backup?

We saved money letting him go but I would have liked him to stay another year as a backup.

Meanwhile Andrew Wylie is still here....hopefully not past August

[Rainbarrel]

Gurley to Chiefs is not a new subject. Rumors of rumors or such. Another bottle of beer off the wall.