10:35am: Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk says that the Titans, not the 49ers, are currently expected to land Jones, and that a second-round pick will be headed to Atlanta in exchange. Florio was clear that he is not reporting the Titans have offered or will offer a second-rounder, or that the Falcons — who are still holding out for a first-round choice — will accept it. He is merely pointing out that the general consensus among league execs is that a Tennessee-Atlanta trade featuring a second-rounder is the most likely outcome.
09:06am: Yesterday, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported that the 49ers are the team that has been most connected to Falcons receiver Julio Jones in league circles. Fowler also indicated that the Rams were in the mix, which was the first time we had heard Los Angeles pop up in Jones rumors.
Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network has taken that one step further, reporting that the Rams have discussed a Jones trade with Atlanta (via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk). Like the Niners, the Rams would be unable to send a 2022 or even a 2023 first-round pick to the Falcons in exchange for Jones, as their top selections in the next two drafts have been traded away in separate transactions. So if Atlanta really does have an offer in hand that includes a 2022 first-rounder, it would seem that both San Francisco and LA would be out of the running.
However, there has been plenty of skepticism that a club has actually ponied up a first-round pick for Jones, especially given Atlanta’s limited leverage. Garafolo also expressed doubt that the Falcons will end up getting a first.
Their draft pick situation aside, the Rams also seem to be an unlikely fit since they have limited cap space and have already devoted considerable resources to the wide receiver position. The 49ers, on the other hand, have the cap space, the WR need, and an obvious connection to Jones in head coach Kyle Shanahan, Jones’ former OC in Atlanta. That is perhaps why the Niners are viewed as the clubhouse favorites for the seven-time Pro Bowler.
The Titans also have an obvious hole at wide receiver and would presumably love to have Jones on their roster. Garafolo says that Tennessee has indeed talked about a Jones swap with the Falcons. But if the Titans were to swing a deal, GM Jon Robinson would need to do a fair amount of maneuvering to create sufficient cap space, and Atlanta might need to absorb even more of a financial hit than it was planning on.
Right now, no deal is imminent, according to Garafolo. So even though the Falcons could realistically trade Jones this week — a post-June 1 transaction is the only way this ever made sense — it seems it will take a little longer than that to reach a resolution.
I mean I’d give up a first if ATL will keep some cap money, maybe that’s going to be apart of the agreement?
Or if ATL kicks in a late round pick like a 4th or 5th.
Why should the Falcons eat cash or throw in draft picks for one of the games best WR for a 1st round pick? A Jones for 1st round pick is a fair enough swap. If it drops to a 2nd round pick, now the conversation becomes “what additional picks do we need to send to Atlanta to make this trade happen. Ie, the Titian’s would likely be giving a low 2nd round pick to the Falcons for Jones… that’s no good. They should have to give abother fraction pick or two (probably late picks) to justify this trade. I personally have no problem with that. But in no way should the Falcons eat salary and give up draft picks to trade a stinking top end WR. Just silly.
Agree. A 1st rounder for Julio is more than a fair ask, and the Falcons shouldn’t have to include anything. Put Julio on TEN, LA… they’re picking late 20s… That’s not a high price to ask
Julio at his age will be tough to net a 1st. That might be the deal in the end to separate someone from the other offers but his market value is clearly a 2nd.
Idk why you would say the market is clearly a 2nd rounder. The Falcons have reportedly been offered a 1st round pick… it seems to me that 2nd round “seems to be the market” cause more teams can afford to give that up plus additional picks to make the deal sweeter than just a 1st round pick
Diggs who had far greater value got a 1st. Hopkins was traded for a 2nd. Julio at his age and bleh 2020 season is not going to have many teams looking to move a 1st for him. That report is completely bogus. If they had an offer with a 1st he would be gone. What more would they be waiting for?
What would they be waiting for? A 2nd round pick with additional picks or players lol. Like, I literally just told you how any team can outbid a late 1st round pick lol. Diggs having more value is definitely debatable, meaning they both fall in a similar class. And the cardinals gave up David Johnson and an additional 4th rounder with that 2nd round pick. Sooooooooo ur not helping ur case, only building mine lol. Thanks for the assistance, it’s welcomed anytime lol
What’s with the “lols”? They made good points. If you can put aside your homerism for a moment, it’s not that hard to see why a 1st round pick for a a 32 year old who couldn’t stay on the field last year and would eat up a huge chunk of salary cap, probably requiring a team to release another player(s), could be considered too high of an ask.
Julio on Rams wow!!!! Stafford hasn’t had this good a weapons since megatron!
I would love to see the cap gymnastics Tennessee would have to do in order to fit Julio’s 15M+ cap hit when they have like 3.5M in space. Same thing with Seattle, who has like 1M more
There would be gymnastics, but you can do about anything you want if you’re willing to push dead money into the future.
Theoretically time will eventually come to pay the piper, but the Steelers have shone you can kick the can for a good decade at least.
Not to be needlessly critical, but I would point out that there’s not really any such thing as a “front runner” in NFL trades.until the deal is done, they’re just talking about it, and guessing who ultimately will end up doing it is always the definition of pure speculation. Most of the time, it ends up being a team that wasn’t the “front runner” to begin with. That doesn’t mean reporting on specific developments or details are useless of course, but picking a team as the front runner to do a deal is pretty useless. Fit versus likelihood are two different things, because the latter requires you to speculate. The Titans “talking” about trading for Jones could mean literally anything commitment wise. For all we know, they may have just taken five minutes to read ESPN’s report about them. They may have spent two hours putting together a package and discussing who they’d trade away in return. Or maybe the Seahawks did that and the Titans actually aren’t doing it at all. It’s different to say “this team fits” than it is to say “this team was talking about it”.
Jones going to the Titans is like staying in Atlanta. They won’t be a contender. They have more holes than Bonnie and Clydes car.
A 2nd rounder in 22 and a 4th in 2023 seems fair.
As an outsider, that seems like a fair deciding price to me too. The contract is what muddies up the water-how much a team could take, and how much Atlanta is willing to. I’ve wondered though how amenable Jones is adjustments, because some kind of renegotiation seems inevitable there.