With more smoke surfacing on the Julio Jones front, another potential suitor has emerged. The Patriots have held internal discussions on Jones, according to NFL.com’s Mike Giardi (on Twitter).
This certainly does not mean a deal is close, but the Patriots have operated aggressively at the skill positions this offseason. Four new weapons — Hunter Henry, Jonnu Smith, Nelson Agholor, Kendrick Bourne — are in Foxborough, with the group set to aid Cam Newton and/or Mac Jones in 2021. One of this era’s most accomplished players, Jones would stand to help as well.
Despite the Pats’ uncharacteristic March spending, they still have north of $15MM in cap space. Although they still need to sign some draft picks — Jones among them — that cap-space figure ranks in the top 10. The Falcons, who hold less than $500K as of Saturday, rank 30th here. They have identified a Jones trade as a way to remedy this issue, even though dealing the 32-year-old All-Pro would would an offense that just added Kyle Pitts fourth overall.
[Poll: Who Will Julio Jones Play For In 2021?]
Bill Belichick sent the Falcons a second-round pick for longtime Jones teammate Mohamed Sanu in 2019, but that move backfired. While this is a new Falcons front office, Belichick dealt with GM Terry Fontenot‘s former team in a high-end receiver swap in 2017. Fontenot was with the Saints when they sent Brandin Cooks to the Patriots for a first-round pick four years ago. The new Atlanta GM said last month the team must listen to offers for Jones. Belichick has used the trade market extensively to land impact wideouts, with the 2007 offseason including deals for Randy Moss and Wes Welker. The Pats also traded for Chad Johnson in 2011 and Josh Gordon in 2018.
New England’s passing game sputtered last season — and neither Agholor nor Bourne profiles as a No. 1-caliber wide receiver. Jones missed seven games in 2020, due to a hamstring malady, but only missed four over the previous six years combined. His 9,388 receiving yards from 2014-19 not only led the NFL by more than 1,000; that total is the most ever in a six-season span. Jones’ 95.5 yards per game over the course of his career ranks No. 1 in NFL history.
The Titans are also believed to be on the radar for a Jones trade, and other teams should be expected to explore what it would take to acquire the 10-year veteran. Though, the Falcons are not expected to receive a first-round pick for their future Hall of Fame wideout. A Jones trade would need to take place after June 1, when such a move becomes less financially punishing for the Falcons. Jones’ $22MM-per-year contract includes a $15.3MM 2021 base salary; Jones is due $11.5MM in 2022 and ’23.
This would be a smart move by Bill, they need to get hoyer some weapons. He can’t do everything himself but with Julio they could make a play for the divison.
LOLZ
Hoyer lol good one
I’d love to see Mac Jones start the year but it doesn’t seem like that’s gonna happen. Whoever is starting will be able to run proper two tight end sets with Henry and Smith which is what Bill likes to do, but Pats still need a #1 receiver and Julio would be a welcomed addition. 1st rounder next draft plus a mid round pick and Harry could get the needle moving
No way they get a first for albeit a great receiver but coming off injury and high salary. Maybe a 3 rd. And probably no player from NE unless Bill was shedding salary to make it work.
What are you Hoyer’s dad every time you can you praise him dude had his chance choked and sucked and still sucks he’s only still in the league because Bill has his head up his azz realizing he screwed up on Brady
I would feel sorry for Julio Jones. Who TF wants to go up there? They suck, Jones is and will be a bust. We all know that.
Right, why go to Pats and have cam skip you some grounders and than go to AJ McCarron 2.0 start after a few games? At least with the Falcons you have an chance at the playoffs.
As a pats fan…this hurts because it’s true. Hopefully Mac is actually decent. That’s all we need. Cam is a bum at this point. Hope I’m wrong.
No wonder why Tom bolted. Spend nothing while he’s QB’ing but spend every cent when a bad QB is under center?
Seems things worked out okay for Tom in NE…just sayin’
Same in TB. But NE spent this year, why not previous years? Many articles about how cheap they were during Tom’s days. Just sayin’
because they could be. they got results.
Got results w/ Tom. Tom got fed up w/ that & bolted. Am I wrong? Then he won again, right.
There were tons of articles of lack of weapons for Tom. Come on. Let’s not do a revisionist history.
My bad. I read your post wrong.
Moss, Welker, Johnson, Cooks, Gordon, Sanu.
Antonio Brown. Phillip Dorsett. Rex Burkhead. Chris Hogan.
In the draft, Michel and Harry were both taken in the 1st. They re-signed James White instead of trying to replace him as the RB2 through the draft.
The Pats have not been shy about filling out their skill units. Not always wise about it, but I think Aaron Rodgers has a far better case to be unhappy about his skill units than Brady had.
From the Boston herald: link to bostonherald.com
quick quote from the article: In the past, he’s refrained from spending sprees. The last decade in fact, he’s only spent roughly $360 million in total on free agents. He’s well past half that total now in one day.
I’ll grant you that the free agent spending is different, but that’s partly in response to them failing to hit on recent draft picks, like those two tight ends last year. Otherwise, Bill’s been willing to use draft capital to fill out his skill units, either directly or via trade.
So who is responsible for poor drafting? Any way you cut it, Tom and Rob were happy & won another SB, while Bill was sub 500. Thats the bottom line.
And if you’d made that point, I’d have agreed with you. But instead, you acted as if Bill hadn’t spent any kind of capital, draft or otherwise, and had just “ignored” or “neglected” the skill positions, like my idiot fellow Vikings fans used to always whine about Rick Spielman and the offensive line.
Make the correct argument.
I copied that point. From a Boston reporter. Please read again.
quick quote from the article: In the past, he’s refrained from spending sprees. The last decade in fact, he’s only spent roughly $360 million in total on free agents. He’s well past half that total now in one day.
Haha Rex was a joke of a running back.
Who they kept around for four years as a RB3 who scored a combined total of 18 TD’s and gained nearly 1,900 combined yards. That’s not bad for a RB3.
Burkhead was their best between the tackles back, and probably best all round back, for the last couple of years. I wouldn’t consider him a joke at all. You only say that because NE platooned their backs more than nearly any other team.
Tom’s a cry baby
The pats should offer Michel and Harry with a 4th or 5th for him let’s be real they won’t resign either of them so let’s just move on already if they can do it without a draft pick then great other than that just do it
case7187 –
U really think another team coundn’t beat that offer?
Obviously any team can but doesn’t mean Atlanta will except it or ask for more maybe they want to do JJ a solid for everything he’s done there (highly unlikely) he’s also owed 22m this season and could scare teams off
Bill will probably be stingy with draft picks and be too scared to make the move for a star…..so he can draft a player like N’Keal Harry.
Bill traded a #2 for Sanu two years ago and a #1 and a #3 for Cooks two years before that. And he’s traded back out of the 1st round twice in the last nine years.
“Stingy with draft picks” and “scared” aren’t really adjectives I’d use to describe Belichick.
Which makes it all the more strange the way he refused to match the Diggs trade when the Vikings presented the chance. How about Hopkins when he was up for trade? These are proven stars. Between Sanu, Harry, That awful CB they shipped to Denver right after drafting, Bill has wasted a lot of high selections that would have been better off being moved for a true WR1
Well, he thought he was getting that with Harry. Harry ended up being a big bust (so far, at least). You can’t say that Belichick was being cheap in the slightest. And a second for Sanu, who was the player he used to be which was certainly worth that price before the time of the trade, is hardly “being cheap”.
Belichick did also try to improve the offense through the run by drafting a first round back (which we all knew was too high for Michel, a career platoon back in college). Belichick actually went out of his way to do those things even though his mind was really occupied with his defense, which had a litany of expiring contracts that were due to come up.
In my mind, Belichick did those things so he wouldn’t have to worry about the offense and focus on his defense. I mean, you figure spending two firsts on offense would be enough to fix that, right? He was wrong, however, and now likely regrets going out of his way to please Brady (especially when he thought that it was time to move to a younger QB as is) when he really wanted to reload his defense.
Ya get a legit #1 so the whole world can see how garbo cam really is
Is Julio Mexican?
They are latinx
Why did Bill spend this year and not others? He had the cap space and a ton of holes to fill. He spent his money on that defense that won most of those SBs.
It won’t take much for Matt Jones to pass Cam “Nuttin” Jones is a fit to the system and play call the OC uses. Julio Jones would be a weapon sorely needed to get the offense up to snuff.