Browns: Trading for Julio Jones is a foolish notion, unless it’s a talent swap

Falcons’ receiver Julio Jones is on the market and the Browns are a favorite landing spot.

There’s no real tangible evidence to suggest the Browns are interested in Julio Jones, but in the world of fantasy booking, a lot of people are constantly pointing to Cleveland as a potential landing spot for the Falcons wideout. It’s not likely that Atlanta would trade him this year, as the Falcons are going to have to eat about $25 million, spread across two years if they trade Jones.

It also doesn’t make sense to trade him to Cleveland, considering the receiver situation. The idea of putting a 32-year-old receiver, at $23 million for 2021, with this crop of guys is a bit silly and foolish. The Browns would need to make moves just to afford him, and would then need to make even more moves over the next few years to make sure his then-$19 million salary doesn’t curtail the team even further.

Too much money is owed to afford Julio Jones

The Browns have to sign Baker Mayfield, Nick Chubb, Wyatt Teller, and Jack Conklin to new deals in the next two years. They’re not exactly in a place where they can pay over $60 million on Jones, Jarvis Landry, Odell Beckham, and Austin Hooper in 2021 and beyond.

If the Falcons want to make the trade, they’d have to take back Beckham’s contract at least. Ideally, the move would be to have Jones and Landry, but you’d probably have to move on from Landry as well as Jones makes more than both current Browns’ wideouts. Then you’re looking at age and he’s already 32. What’s he got left, a year or two as a top guy still? If that? He might be already declining.

The best bet is to avoid trading for Jones. As tempting as it is to load up like the Buccaneers did in 2020, the Browns are trying to build to win for a decade or more, the Buccaneers know they have a year, maybe three tops, to win. So it makes sense for them to wreck their cap now.

The Browns, not so much.