Since coming into the league, Julio Jones has emerged as one of the best wide receivers in the world today. He’s one of those guys you create on Madden. Julio is 6’3, 220 pounds, and has the speed of a slot receiver. It’s almost as if defenders know he’s coming and there’s still no answer for him. He creates so many problems for any defense that’s trying to defend him. I’ve often referred to him as the “Kevin Durant of the NFL” because he’s unstoppable. Here’s another interesting fact. Julio has amassed more receiving yards than any other player since breaking into the league. Recently, his name has popped up in trade talks. Today, he announced he was done with the Atlanta Falcons. Who are some teams that could trade for him? Let’s break this down.
1. Baltimore Ravens: They haven’t had a 1,000-yard receiver since 2016. Mike Wallace accomplished this for the Ravens. This off-season, Baltimore tried signing Juju Smith-Schuster and T.Y. Hilton, but both returned to their respective teams. Yes, the Ravens signed Sammy Watkins in the off-season and drafted Rashod Bateman from Minnesota. However, the offense needs to evolve in the passing game with Lamar Jackson if they want to be competitive. This is where a guy like Julio would help. He’d give Lamar a true number one threat on the perimeter. A guy who can create down the field with a wide catch radius.
2. Indianapolis Colts: They made the splash move to acquire Carson Wentz from the Philadelphia Eagles. The Colts don’t have a ton of weapons for him to work with. Michael Pittman has a long way to go with being a number one receiver, Parris Campbell struggles to stay on the field and who knows if T.Y Hilton has anything left in the tank. This is where you enter Julio. A true number one threat provided for Carson with an offensive line that will give him time to throw the ball. I understand there are many questions about Carson and can he bounce back. Having a guy like Julio would help him significantly.
3. San Francisco 49ers: This just screams at me. If you’ve followed along with me, I’ve always said that football is a game of personnel fits. Julio played under 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan when he was an offensive coordinator for the Falcons. Whoever does end up being the starting quarterback for the 49ers will benefit from a great security blanket in Julio. This could be tough for them to pull off considering they emptied the cabinet of draft picks to pick Trey Lance. The possibility of an offense with Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk, and Julio Jones would be unstoppable.
