There are likely too many hurdles in Rams’ way of potential trade for Julio Jones
In his 10-year career, Julio Jones has seven 1,000-yard seasons, three years with at least 100 catches and is the NFL’s all-time leader in receiving yards per game (95.5). There isn’t a team in football that he wouldn’t make better, which is why he’s such an intriguing trade target amid the Atlanta Falcons salary cap struggles.
The Los Angeles Rams talked to the Falcons about a trade for Jones, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network, but nothing has materialized. With their depth at wide receiver and their already-bloated salary cap, the Rams wouldn’t seem like the most logical landing spot for the seven-time Pro Bowler.
Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk reported that the Rams are out of the Jones chase for now, though “that’s not a firm guarantee they won’t get back in,” he wrote.
It shouldn’t come as any surprise that the Rams might not be fully in pursuit of Jones. There are many, many hurdles standing in their way of a trade for the stud receiver.
First and foremost, they’re already in a difficult situation cap-wise. They’re paying five players at least $15.75 million per year, including their top two receivers, Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp. As of now, they have about $7.1 million in cap space this year, which wouldn’t be enough to fit Jones’ $15.3 million salary. They could trade Woods or Kupp to the Falcons in a package for Jones, but doing so would only free up $2.5 million or $1.5 million, respectively.
Restructuring Matthew Stafford’s deal would create $12.62 million in free money for 2021, which would seem like a requirement if they were to trade for Jones. The problem with that, however, is it would put the Rams in an even trickier situation next year. Already projected to be about $3 million over the $208.2 million salary cap ceiling, restructuring Stafford’s deal would tack on another $6 million in 2022 cap obligations, thus pushing the Rams $9 million over the limit.
Good luck re-signing Darious Williams, Austin Corbett or Sebastian Joseph-Day in that scenario; all three of them will be free agents in 2022, as will Joseph Noteboom, Travin Howard, Kenny Young, Matt Gay, Micah Kiser and Ogbonnia Okoronkwo.
(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Trading Woods or Kupp seems logically possible, but would that really help the Falcons much? Woods’ cap hit spikes to $15.7 million in 2022 and increases each year until 2025. Kupp has a cap hit of $18.3 million in 2022 and $18.05 million in 2023. Those rival Jones’ cap hits of $19.26 million in 2022 and 2023. Woods and Kupps’ lower cap hits would help the Falcons in 2021, but not necessarily for the long-term future.
Then there’s the draft capital issue. Every team in the NFL except the 49ers can offer the Falcons something the Rams can’t: a first-round pick in 2023. The Rams’ next first-round pick comes in 2024. The same goes for the 49ers. That makes a big difference because the Falcons would probably rather not wait three years to use the pick received for Jones.
The Rams could trade a second-rounder in 2022, but then they wouldn’t have a pick until the third round next year. That’s not ideal considering how reliant they are on nailing their draft picks due to the expensive contracts they’ve given many of their top players.
That being said, Jones is absolutely, unequivocally worth a second-round pick. Teams should be lining up to acquire him, even at the cost of a first-round pick. It’s just that the Rams’ first-round pick is far less valuable than the ones offered by other teams in 2022 or even 2023. Thus, they would probably have to give up more than a first-rounder to reel Jones in.
Les Snead should never be counted out of any trade scenario, but he has a bunch of hurdles to jump and obstacles to avoid if he’s going to acquire Jones.
