New England Patriots rumors: Julio Jones was worth the asking price

Cover your eyes, New England Patriots and Bill Belichick loyalists. Yesterday, the Tennessee Titans traded a 2022 second round pick and a 2023 fourth round pick to the Atlanta Falcons in exchange for bonafide star wide receiver Julio Jones and a 2023 sixth round pick.

One look at the Patriots wide receiver depth chart is all you need to understand why Patriots fans are left scratching their heads as to why Julio is headed to a team not located at 1 Patriot Place.

Considering the price the Titans paid, what Julio brings to the table offensively, and wide receiver still being a glaring hole on the Patriots roster, it’s hard to understand why Belichick wasn’t the one to be shaking hands with Atlanta.

New England Patriots weren’t really in the mix for Julio Jones

Knowing how the Belichick and the Patriots operate, it’s no surprise that they weren’t truly in the mix for the aging wideout, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating. Julio’s cap hit would be over $15M in 2021 and over $11M in both 2022 and 2023 in his mid-30’s seasons, and Julio doesn’t have an immaculate bill of health.

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The question is: is committing that kind of cap space to Julio Jones worth the risk when your team’s best wide receiver right now is Nelson Agholor?

My answer is yes. There was and still is plenty of risk involved in several of the free agency signings this past offseason. The top two targets on offense now are Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry. Smith has never had a season with over 448 receiving yards, but Belichick saw fit to hand him over $34M over the next three years. Henry is injury prone and has never had more than 653 receiving yards, but Belichick wrote him a check for $25 fully guaranteed.

To be clear, I’m a fan of both of those signings and I think they will be productive in the Patriots offense. However, even when considering his age, I’d much rather take a chance on a receiver like Julio Jones at a similar cost and still be able to have one of Smith or Henry on the roster.

Maybe Belichick isn’t too keen on Atlanta Falcons receivers after the Mohamed Sanu trade was one of the worst of his career. Maybe Julio Jones just really wanted to play alongside AJ Brown and the Tennessee Titans.

Whatever the reasons may be, the offseason spending spree has been followed by a return to the norm for Belichick: an unwillingness to potentially overpay in a trade or in salary for an upgrade.

As it stands, the New England Patriots offense will be noticeably improved from last season. The problem is that it could’ve been so much better.