Philadelphia Eagles rumors: Pursuing Julio Jones makes little sense

A video that’s quickly taking the world of Twitter by storm, 7x Pro Bowler Julio Jones was caught on camera saying he longer wants to play for the Atlanta Falcons, thanks to some (somewhat dishonest) investigative work by the likes of Shannon Sharpe on this morning’s episode of “Undisputed.” A player whom the Philadelphia Eagles have been connected to in the past, I guess it’s worth revisiting this discussion:

According to both Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport, Jones requested an official trade months ago, so he’s definitely on the block. The Falcons are reportedly demanding a first-round back in return, an asking price that teams have been unwilling to meet thus far. Despite all of Jones’ greatness, he turns 33 next February, so it’s understandable that teams have been rather reluctant to fork over prime draft capital.

Julio Jones to the Philadelphia Eagles makes little sense on paper.

From the standpoint of the Philadelphia Eagles, I don’t know if making an aggressive move for someone like Jones could make any less sense, to put it rather bluntly. While the team unquestionably has future draft picks to spare (upwards of three 2022 first-round picks), Jones doesn’t line up with the Eagles’ timeline in the slightest.

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While there’s been some quiet optimism growing amongst Eagles fans over the past few weeks due to the hype that surrounded the additions of DeVonta Smith and Ryan Kerrigan, this is still an organization that is in desperate need of a proper rebuild. Their decision to trade back for future draft picks this offseason signaled as much, and a completely overhauled coaching staff needs time to figure things out. A process that can take a few years to complete.

Oddsmakers and experts all around the NFL have the Eagles pinned as a sub-.500 team this year. Even if you’re all the way in on Jalen Hurts as the team’s next franchise quarterback, the rest of the roster doesn’t have the makings of being “one player away” from a Super Bowl.

Not to mention that Julio Jones carries a cap number north of $15 million in 2021, and north of $11 million in both 2022 and 2023. While the Philadelphia Eagles actually have money to spare after this season, they aren’t even close to being in a good enough financial position to bring in a veteran on $15 million.

They’d either have to immediately extend and restructure Jones’ contract upon acquiring him, or restructure the deals of aging veterans already on the roster, further depleting their cap space in future years. A big reason Howie Roseman got himself into such a dire state in regards to the cap this offseason was due to his constant restructuring of bad contracts.

Additionally, Julio very blatantly mentions his desire to win moving forward. Even if you personally are higher on the Eagles’ odds for success this season, I doubt Jones is jumping at the opportunity to play with an unproven second-year quarterback.

Knowing Roseman and the Philadelphia Eagles as a whole, my guess is they’ll at least kick the tires on trading for Jones. They’ve been linked to him in the past, and Howie never turns down an opportunity to improve his roster. However, due to the reasons mentioned above, this is a trade hypothetical that Philly should ultimately sit out of.