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theramswire.usatoday.com]
Report: Rams have talked to Falcons about Julio Jones trade
The Los Angeles Rams are in excellent shape at wide receiver with Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp, Van Jefferson, DeSean Jackson and Tutu Atwell. However, there isn’t a team in the NFL that couldn’t benefit from adding Julio Jones on offense.
The Rams don’t seem like a logical landing spot given their lack of draft capital and cap space, but they’ve been linked to Jones multiple times. In addition to having the second-best odds to land Jones, Mike Garafolo of NFL Network said the Rams have been among the teams talking to Atlanta about Jones.
“The Falcons have been fielding offers and some of the teams we’ve heard about – the Titans, the Rams – yes, my understanding is those are two of the teams that have had conversations with Atlanta,” he said on NFL Network. “The problem is, the Rams are really short on draft capital. They don’t have first-round picks for the next two years.”
Garafolo added that he doesn’t think the trade will be as simple as sending a first-round pick for Jones. He thinks it’ll be “part of some package where it’s going to average down to a later (first-round) pick.”
The Rams don’t have a first-rounder until 2024 and only have about $7 million in cap space right now, but there are ways to make the trade work – such as trading a player and a second-round pick, and then restructuring Matthew Stafford’s contract to save $12.6 million.
The team that acquires Jones will take on his $15.3 million salary in 2021, as well as his salaries of $11.5 million in each of the following two years. If the Rams are set on acquiring Jones, they might have to trade one of their own receivers – like Woods or Kupp – and give up a draft pick in the process.
