If you believe Julio Jones’ own words when he possibly didn’t realize he was on TV, his time in Atlanta is done.
The superstar Falcons wide receiver told Fox Sports’ Shannon Sharpe that he was “out” of Atlanta, and it was later reported that Jones requested a trade back in March. And while trading Jones makes little sense given how the Falcons drafted, it does look like a trade will happen some time after June 1.
So, in the meantime, we have a bunch of NFL players trying to recruit Jones to their respective teams — even though Jones doesn’t have much (or any) say in the matter.
But man, the Titans’ A.J. Brown really went for it with a voice message to Jones, and then he posted it publicly.
AJ Brown is doing his part trying to get Julio to the #Titans.
“If you want to carry the load, you can carry it. If you get tired, you know I’ll carry you. …We waiting on you here. You say you want to win, right? We need a couple more pieces. Trust me.” pic.twitter.com/5cw0PgPvjU
— NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) May 25, 2021
Jones, who rarely posts on social media, didn’t respond to either message sent two years apart.
In a sense, this is probably shameless tampering as Brown is publicly (and privately) recruiting a player under contract with another team. The NFL’s legal tampering period was back in March, and that only applies to unrestricted free agents. But unlike the NBA, the NFL doesn’t seem to go after specific players for tampering violations as players don’t influence roster decisions in the way NBA players do.
The Chiefs, for example, were docked draft picks and fined heavily in 2016 when they contacted Jeremy Maclin before the start of free agency. But you just don’t see the NFL penalize players for it.
That makes it an open invitation to recruit Julio, and we’re already seeing players accept the challenge.
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