While live on FS1’s “Undisputed”, Atlanta Falcons WR Julio Jones was asked about his future with the team, his response was “I’m out of there”, which brought up the question “who will pay up” to land the former All-Pro receiver. On Monday Ian Rapoport reported Jones requested a trade a few months ago, and Atlanta has been listening to offers. A few teams have been rumored to be in the mix for Jones’ services. Those include the New England Patriots, Tennessee Titans, and the Baltimore Ravens, among others. With that in mind, let’s review the top 5 best suitors for Julio.
- New England Patriots. The Patriots were rumored to be having internal discussions regarding Julio, and this may bring them back into playoff contention, a year removed. Adding Julio would do wonders for their golden boy, Mac Jones, and could light a spark under some of their younger receivers (N’Keal Harry, Jakobi Meyers). Landing Julio would top off a crazy off-season for Bill Belichick’s Patriots, and would solidify everyone’s thought. BB doesn’t think he has much longer & wants to make another run at a championship.
- Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens finally made some additions in the WR room, adding Sammy Watkins, along with Rashod Bateman & Tylan Wallace through the draft. With those additions, the Ravens WR room still looks like it could be improved. Bringing in Julio would be a huge addition as they look to improve their passing game, and should help exceed Lamar Jackson’s growth as a passer.
- Green Bay Packers. It may be too little too late to sway Aaron Rodgers into staying, but nevertheless, the Packers still need WR help. They’ve tried a bunch of things to fix it, attempting to trade for Will Fuller at the deadline, but just can’t hit. Adding Julio would go a long way in Jordan Love taking the next step in his progression.
- Tennessee Titans. The Titans passing game took a blow in FA, losing TE Jonnu Smith & WR Corey Davis. GM Jon Robinson could fix it all right here with 1 move, and he’s had a little help recruiting too. WR AJ Brown has been pushing for it on social media for the past week now, and said he would even give up his #11 jersey number. Pairing Julio with Brown would be a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses, and could become one of the best offenses in the league with Derrick Henry pounding the ball 20+ times per game.
- Indianapolis Colts. The Colts landed their QB of the present in Carson Wentz, but still need to give him some dominant receivers. They brought back TY Hilton, but are still missing a receiver to take the top off of defenses. The Colts have a decent amount of cap space remaining ($14M) and could afford Julio after a restructure. The Colts need to be all in on winning right now and not be content with years of making it to the Wild Card round, and landing Julio puts them in contention.
The Falcons save $15M cap space by trading Julio after June 1st.