Freddie Falcon
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- Mar 16, 2019
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Titans General Manager Jon Robinson began discussing a trade for Julio Jones with Falcons General Manager Terry Fontenot less than a month ago. The team’s coaches did their due diligence in recent weeks, watching film on Jones and gathering information.
On Sunday, everything came together to make the star receiver a Titan, pending a physical.
“We’ve been talking for probably 2-3 weeks here, back and forth with Atlanta,” Robinson said via Jim Wyatt of the team website. “My hat’s off to (Fontenot). This is his first big trade. He was great to work with, and he has a great career ahead of him. So I appreciate working with him, and dealing with him. But we had discussions back and forth the last couple of weeks, and it kind of picked up in intensity yesterday, and then finally found some closure on it this morning.
“We’re excited to add Julio to the football team, and he’s excited to be a part of what we have going on in Nashville. It’s a big day for our team.”
The deal, which will have Tennessee trading its 2022 second-round pick and a 2023 fourth-round selection to Atlanta in exchange for Jones and a sixth-round pick in 2023, still is not complete. Robinson suggested the Titans still have to work through some things with the salary cap to comply with NFL guidelines.
The deal is close enough, though, that both sides have acknowledged an agreement is in place.
The seven-time Pro Bowler, who has 12,896 receiving yards and 60 touchdowns in his 10-year career, will join A.J. Brown, Derrick Henry and Josh Reynolds among others in Tennessee.
“He’s big. He’s fast. He’s tough,” Robinson said of Jones. “He’s great with the ball in his hands. He’s a willing blocker. I think a lot of the things that we ask of our receivers, which all the locals know, is get open, catch and block. He certainly checks those boxes and has done it as a high level for a lot of years in the National Football League.
“We did our due diligence with the film work and the evaluation about what he might add to the team, and we’re excited we were able to get some closure with it today.”
Robinson added that he hopes “we’ve bolstered [the team] today by adding Julio.”
The Titans’ ballyhooed signing of free agent pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney in 2020 didn’t work out as expected. Clowney played only eight games and made no sacks with six quarterback hits.