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.

[wazu]

Originally Posted by stumppy

Thus the question marks. You'd notice them if you paid attention.

Fair enough. I've just seen a lot of comments in this thread from people who have this perception that Julio Jones can't stay healthy. He puts up monster numbers almost every year. And he does that while having a "questionable" designation. This causes stress for fantasy owners but it doesn't seem to matter on gameday. Last year was his standout "injury" problem year where he only played in 9 games. (But still out produced Hardman by like 200 yards.)

[TomBarndtsTwin]

Since there seems to be a lot of comparing Jones to Watkins going on in this thread, just posting for reference:

https://www.nfl.com/players/sammy-watkins/stats/career

https://www.nfl.com/players/julio-jones/stats/career


One of these things is not like the other . . . . . . .

[Rainbarrel]

Throwing two balls at the same time will not get you on the refs good side.

[ModSocks]

Jones gets the stereotype of being often injured because he is often injured.

It just doesn't always cost him games so it doesn't show on the stats sheet. But he's seemingly always dealing with nagging soft-tissue injuries that he plays through.

With that said....many nagging soft tissue injuries or not....the dude still plays and still produces. At least until he doesn't...which could happen at anytime. It's certainly a calculated risk.

[pugsnotdrugs19]

I’d do it for sure but at a certain compensation cost that probably is lower than he may go for.

[Chris Meck]

I'm not sure it's a good idea money-wise.

I'm also not sure that Jones would want to come here and be the #3 option, which is what he would be. It's also not a great offense to walk into if you're planning on upping your value in a year. It's complicated, and you're not going to put up big numbers right away.

Unless he wants to come and get a ring and just contribute, I doubt it.

[IowaHawkeyeChief]

hard pass unless they actually cut him, which may happen if no offers are given for that salary hit, then if he wants a one year prove it deal to get a ring, sure. The pats didn't have a dynasty by signing players in the last years of their prime, well, unless they were cheap...

[Otter]

No thanks, Chiefs just cut Sammy Jones. Don't need to replace him.

[wazu]

Originally Posted by Otter

No thanks, Chiefs just cut Sammy Jones. Don't need to replace him.

[ForeverIowan]

JFC with the people comparing Julio Jones to Sammy Watkins. Julio is a future HOFer. Sammy is a #2 WR in this league who cant stay healthy. You absolutely make a move for him if the Falcons are taking calls.

[TomBarndtsTwin]

Originally Posted by Otter

No thanks, Chiefs just cut Sammy Jones. Don't need to replace him.

Comparing Jones to Watkins is a bit of a disservice.

Minus last year for Jones (the outlier year), one guy plays through injuries, one guy doesn't.

The numbers from the last 5 years speak for themselves.


Not advocating for the Chiefs to trade for him and take on that big cap hit, but calling him Sammy Watkins is pretty damn disrespectful considering what he has done in his career.

He typically plays through nagging injuries unlike 'wounded vag Sam' (yes, that's his actual Native American name)

[Dante84]

Originally Posted by IowaHawkeyeChief

hard pass unless they actually cut him, which may happen if no offers are given for that salary hit, then if he wants a one year prove it deal to get a ring, sure. The pats didn't have a dynasty by signing players in the last years of their prime, well, unless they were cheap...

Someone will trade for him, no way he gets cut.

[Dante84]

The recency bias (1 injured year) + Chiefs fans' PTSD of injured players (Schwartz, Watkins, Berry, etc..) is really clouding some judgement in here, I think.

Is there a valid reason for concern with him coming off a hamstring injury at age 32? Sure, so evaluate and don't get over your skis on trade compensation. Brett won't do that, so I'm not worried.

Is he Sammy Watkins, or even in the same realm? No way, man.

[htismaqe]

The difference NOW is that Jones plays through injuries and Watkins doesn't.

That doesn't change the fact that Jones is oft-injured because he absolutely is. And while the willingness to play through them may always be there, there will come a time when Jone's 30+ body simply won't be able to do that anymore. Those nagging injuries will eventually become issues that result in lost playing time, as we saw last year. These are the types of guys we should be avoiding, not inviting.

[O.city]

A pick (probably a 2) and his cap hits, at his age?


Nah.