The Tennessee Titans have agreed to a deal with the Atlanta Falcons for seven-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Julio Jones, allowing the Falcons to clear salary-cap space while the Titans get help for Ryan Tannehill, Derrick Henry and A.J. Brown.
Both teams confirmed the trade Sunday.
The Falcons will receive the Titans’ second-round pick in 2022 and their fourth-rounder in 2023 in exchange for sending Jones and a sixth-round pick in 2023 to Tennessee, pending Jones passing a physical.
The deal adds Jones to an offense that already has Henry, the AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year, and a Pro Bowl receiver in Brown. The defending AFC South champs ranked fourth in scoring in 2020, and this move shores up a big hole in the Titans offense after losing wide receiver Corey Davis and tight end Jonnu Smith in free agency in March.
“J Rob is a gangster!! The man is crushing it!” left tackle Taylor Lewan wrote on Twitter of Titans general manager Jon Robinson.
Tannehill quickly approved of the move: “Let’s go!!!!!”
Henry, who like Jones played at Alabama in college, recently shared photos on social media of him and Jones working out together.
Brown had been lobbying hard on social media for Jones to join the Titans, and Brown shared a photo on Twitter on Sunday of him, Jones and Henry all in Titans jerseys celebrating.
Los Angeles Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey also went to social media to express his feelings that his team missed out on Jones.
The Falcons shared a video of Jones on social media and wrote, “Because of you, 11 will always mean more.”
Jones’ $15.3 million base salary is guaranteed, and he was set to cost the Falcons slightly more than $23 million against the salary cap next season. By trading him after June 1, they now split the dead money over two seasons, easing their tough financial situation.
And now the Titans have a wide receiver costing less in 2021 than if they had picked up the fifth-year option at $15.6 million for Davis, who signed with the New York Jets.
Jones holds Falcons records with 848 catches and 12,896 receiving yards, and his 60 touchdowns rank second. He had a career-best 136 catches for 1,871 yards in 2015. He had six straight seasons with more than 1,300 receiving yards until he was limited to nine games in 2020 by a nagging hamstring injury.
He ranks first in NFL history with 95.5 receiving yards per game through 135 games, ahead of Calvin Johnson’s mark of 86.1.
Jones also is 20th in receiving yards and fourth behind Jerry Rice (76), Randy Moss (64) and Marvin Harrison (59) with 58 100-yard receiving games. Only Moss has a higher average per reception (15.6) than Jones (15.2) among NFL players with at least 848 catches.
The Titans have five straight winning seasons, which ranks behind only the Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs. They lost to the Chiefs in the AFC championship game in the 2019 season.
They tied the Buffalo Bills for second with 396.4 yards per game in 2020, with Tannehill throwing for a career-best 33 touchdowns. Only the Chiefs had more yards, and Jones could help a passing offense that ranked 23rd with 228.3 yards per game.
This is just the latest big deal by Robinson since the Titans hired him as general manager in January 2016.
He traded the No. 1 pick to the Rams in April 2016, and he traded for Tannehill in March 2019 in a deal in which the Miami Dolphins picked up a big chunk of the quarterback’s salary.
Robinson and the Titans signed Tannehill and Henry, the NFL’s back-to-back rushing leader, to four-year extensions last year.
Brown, the other big piece of the Titans offense, has two years left on his rookie contract.
AP’s Charles Odum contributed.
