Falcons Taking Trade Calls For WR Julio Jones

According to Albert Breer, the Falcons have received trade calls regarding WR Julio Jones. 

Ian Rapoport also reported the same thing and Peter King wrote in his Monday column that he would not be surprised to see a trade involving Jones happen in the coming weeks. 

All three report any trade involving Jones would not happen until after the draft. Breer writes the Falcons have been listening to offers on all of their high-priced players this offseason and have restructured other contracts, but not Jones’ deal. 

All three say the Falcons could work out the framework of a deal involving Jones and not execute it until after June 1 in order to manage his dead cap hit. That would mean the Falcons wouldn’t get compensation in this week’s draft for Jones. 

According to Over The Cap, the Falcons would incur a dead money hit of $23.25 million for trading Jones before June 1, but only $7.75 million in dead money for a trade after that date, as well as $15.3 million in cap savings. 

Jones, 32, is a former first-round pick of the Falcons back in 2011. He was in the fifth year of his six-year, $81.432 million contract that includes $47 million guaranteed when he agreed to a three-year, $66 million fully guaranteed contract extension in 2019. 

In 2020, Jones appeared in nine games for the Falcons and caught 51 passes for 771 yards receiving and three touchdowns.

We’ll have more on Jones as the news is available.