(04-20-2021, 08:47 AM)Mikey Wrote:

(04-19-2021, 09:27 PM)I am Yoda Wrote: If that’s the case, it makes no sense to me why you would trade Julio Jones. Still one of the best wide receivers in the league. Use this year to fortify your roster. Then if you were determined that you must have a new quarterback and it Julio’s got too much tread on the tires, then you do it at a financially opportune time. It’s not like the Falcons don’t have holes all over their roster. Just draft BAP. Or as close to BAP as you can get.

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I’m loving the draft coverage on NFL Network. Makes me wish Ettiene would drop to us at 33. Kinda like what I see out of Williams at UNC at 45.

It's always about the money. If they keep him on the roster, he's a 23M hit this year, and his salary is fully guaranteed. If he's showing wear, it's a good idea to move on if you can afford to. If they trade him, he's 23.2M in dead money, so they would basically eat 200K in exchange for any picks or players offered by the other team, and likely bring in his (cheaper) replacement a year ahead of time, or they are confident that Ridley can take over as the primary target.

Think of it this way - they had Ryan and Jones for the past few years, and have next to nothing to show for it (a lot can be said about Quinn's role in this, mind you), but if Smith is leading the team in a less pass-happy direction, I get the notion of moving on today rather than waiting a year when it may be a savings to move on, but nobody is willing to pay the price to acquire him.

They've had great offenses, but their defenses have been terrible. They couldn't stop anyone. You can't lay that on Ryan. He's consistently been one of the better QB's in the NFL, his entire career. Last season he threw for over 4500 yards with 26 TD's and 11 Int's and completed 65% of his passes and Julio Jones only played 9 games. Ryan has never been the problem. If the Falcons were smart, they'd take the BAP or trade down and spend the rest of the draft trying to fix that defense. Giving Ryan a receiver like Pitts would offset the fact that Jones is in the twilight of his career.

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