Let me preface this by saying that I really don’t want to see Julio Jones playing anywhere but Atlanta. What I want is at least one single year where we get to marvel at Jones, Kyle Pitts, and Calvin Ridley befuddling defenses on the same field. But what I want and reality often don’t intersect, so here we are.
The rumors started in the early days of the Arthur Smith/Terry Fontenot regime, and we all understand why. Jones is 32 years old and played in just nine games in 2020. He carries a $23 million-plus cap hit for 2021. Now that we’ve passed June 1, if the Falcons trade Jones, they’ll save $15.3 million in 2021, and take on $7.75 million in dead cap this year, and $15.5 million next year.
As recently as late April, information started trickling out suggesting that while the Falcons were listening to offers for the dynamic receiver, a trade wasn’t imminent. And in late May, we learned that Julio apparently requested a trade months ago.
The drama ratcheted up in late May, when Jones appeared via phone on Undisputed with Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless and said he wants out of Atlanta and wants to win. Much to Skip’s chagrin, I’m sure, Julio also made it clear he doesn’t want to play for the Cowboys. Now that it’s clear that Jones doesn’t want to play for the Falcons in 2021 and beyond, all we can do is wait and see what happens.
The saga surrounding Jones and the Falcons is all over the place, so going forward, we’ll be collecting everything here so you can keep up with the latest.
Julio Jones trade rumors and updates:
June 5, 2021: There may not be much urgency right now as Atlanta seems content to wait to make any moves until they have an offer that isn’t downright insulting, but it’s worth remembering that until the Falcons do something to generate some cap relief, the team can’t actually sign its 2021 rookie class.
As Julio Jones watch continues, Falcons’ rookie draft class continues to wait to sign contracts. Some agents of those rookies have been made aware that the team must clear cap space before getting to deals. Team has $446K in space as of today, per ESPN roster management system
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) June 5, 2021
June 4, 2021: Steve Wyche of NFL Network says that he’s hearing there might not be any movement on trading Julio before training camp.
June 3, 2021: Josina Anderson shared that teams are giving the Falcons time to think about what they want to do with Jones. If the offers the team is getting are anything close to what Anderson suggested here, I hope they keep waiting, because that seems like woefully inadequate compensation for a talent like Julio.
Source tonight on the Julio Jones situation in part: “Everyone is giving (the Falcons) time to think about it…..”
This from 1 team preferring to deal a high mid-rounder for the 7x Pro Bowler w/ 6 straight 1300+sea before ’20, & for ATL to take on a good share of Jones’ salary.
— IG: JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) June 4, 2021
June 3, 2021: I’d take this one with a grain of salt. Once we passed June 1, every day could be the day Julio is traded, and a trade did not happen on June 3.
We’ll update this story as more rumors, news, and information become available.
