So, will the Patriots land Julio Jones when and if he's traded from the Falcons?
That is the question a lot of the NFL world is asking considering the Patriots are the betting favorites to land the star receiver.
Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio joined the Ken & Curtis show Saturday to give his perspective and it sounds like he doesn't think it will happen.
“My first reaction was why wouldn’t they [have internal discussions]?," Florio began. "Why wouldn’t anyone that has the cap space, the need, the draft pick compensation that they would be willing to sacrifice, why wouldn’t you have internal discussions? And then I thought, you know what, when do we ever hear that the Patriots are considering a guy that they ultimately end up getting? Usually you don’t hear about it like Cam Newton and the lightning strikes out of no where on a Sunday night in late June and he’s a member of the team. So, when I saw that last week I was like, ‘Well, cross the Patriots off because that is just not their way. You never hear that they are thinking out a guy they ultimately end up getting.’ Internal discussions I guess are different from they have made a trade offer or they plan to make an offer.
"I could see why they would do it. Now, they have spent a lot of money on upgrading the receiver and tight end position between Jonnu Smith, Hunter Henry, Kendrick Bourne and Nelson Agholor, but Julio Jones is Julio Jones. There would be a poetry to it if it happens because it was 10 years ago that Thomas Dimitroff, the then GM of the Falcons, sought out Bill Belichick’s input on whether or not the Falcons could make the dramatic trade up to get Julio Jones and Belichick said don’t do it. I would love for it to happen just from that standpoint, but right now I don’t know because they are not going to tell us.
"My assumption would be that the Patriots have made it clear, if there are talks, they made it clear to the Falcons and they made it clear to Julio Jones and his representatives that if any word of this comes out, the plug gets pulled because I know they have done that in the past when it comes to potential acquisitions. June 2 is when the window opens. The Patriots are the betting favorites, according to some of the sports books out there, and we just wait and see like everyone else out there on whether or not they make that move.”
It seems likely a trade would happen next week as Atlanta sees the salary cap benefits after June 1.