NASHVILLE TN– Julio Jones has made it clear this week that he has no interest remaining in Atlanta for the 2021 NFL season, and the Tennessee Titans have reportedly been a preferred destination for the All-Pro receiver. Chris Sims of PFT reported today that Julio’s preferred destinations are Tennessee or New England. Betonline seems to agree as these are the teams with the top 2 odds to land Jones as the Patriots sit at -105, and the Titans are at +275.
This news has sent Titans fans into a frenzy on social media and star players AJ Brown, Taylor Lewan, Derrick Henry, and even former Titan Chris Johnson have chimed in lobbying for the receiver to be in Two-Toned blue. AJ Brown has been campaigning for a while for Julio to join the team and even went as far as to DM the Falcons WR a recorded audio message recruiting pitch that is certainly one for the ages.
The real question that remains is, what will Julio Jones cost? Obviously, acquiring a player of his skill set will be pricy but not as pricy as you might think. Adam Schefter reported on Tuesday that the Falcons are looking to acquire a first-round pick, however, the belief around the league is that they won’t be able to get that due to the receiver’s recent injury history and his massive cap hit. I am also of this belief and expect Jones to net the Falcons a 2nd round pick and another later round selection anywhere from the 4th round to the 6th. This is a tall ask especially for a team built in the 2nd round.
While Jon Robinson has netted his two brightest shining stars in the 2nd round in Derrick Henry and AJ Brown. To get a guaranteed star wideout would be well worth the cost. As even though Julio Jones was limited to 9 games in 2020 due to injury, he still racked up over 700 yards. That would’ve been 3rd on the 2020 Titans and that’s just over half a season. Julio can clearly still produce when healthy and would also be able to mentor a young star in AJ Brown who idolized Jones as he was growing up. However, it will all be up to Jon Robinson to make this happen, while working the cap in the process.
While the Titans currently sit at 3.5 million dollars in cap space according to spottrac and while that isn’t close to the around 15 million cap hit that would come with Julio Jones. That being said there is some flexibility in the cap that we have seen all around the league this year and the prime candidate for a restructure would be QB Ryan Tannehill. While most contracts have a clause that the team can convert base salary to bonus money for cap purposes. Even if the language is not in Tannehill’s contract, I’m sure Tannehill would be willing to make this move to gain a superstar like Jones.
Bringing Julio Jones to Nashville would be a major power move by GM Jon Robinson. With a lot of the core pieces of this offense such as Ryan Tannehill, Ben Jones, Roger Saffold, and Taylor Lewan on the wrong side of 30. Even Derrick Henry is in the later stage of his prime and isn’t getting any younger while carrying the ball 300+ times a season. Jones would be able to ease Henry’s burden in a way even more than Corey Davis was able to do last season in his “breakout” year. Brown and Jones on the outside would lead to significantly less 8-man boxes for Henry and would make the Titans offense more lethal than the fans that fill Nissan Stadium have ever seen. Jones would open up a championship-contending window for the Titans.
Jones would open up a window for the Titans to go from a good team to a great one and contend for a title. The X factor for the Titans success would then turn to the defense as they would need to be at least average to be able to contend in the AFC. However, with pieces such as Denico Autry, Bud Dupree, and Caleb Farley added for this season. Average would be a very obtainable goal and this team would be one to watch down the stretch in 2021.
