The Rams have thrown their hats into the Julio Jones sweepstakes, however, any serious interest in the Falcons star wideout by Los Angeles comes with some heavy speculation.
First reported by Mike Garafolo on NFL Network, the Rams and Titans are two teams that have most recently held discussions with Atlanta who are seeking a first-round pick for Jones. Although nothing is imminent according to Garafolo — who expressed skepticism that the Falcons could net themselves a first-round pick for the star receiver, there are still plenty of hurdles that lie in front of the Rams when it comes to actually make Jones work out for them.
Sure it’s good news for the Rams if the Falcons end up having to ease up on their asking price for Julio given Los Angeles doesn’t have a first-round pick in 2022 or 2023.
However, the Rams simply don’t have the cap space to make Jones’ contract work either.
Currently, Jones is set to make $15.2 million in guaranteed base salary which goes down to $11.5 in 2022 and 2023 but the Rams have just over $7 million in available cap space this season and are just over $3 million over the cap in 2023.
Nonetheless, it’s easy to see the Rams’ play here, hoping the Falcons do in fact lessen their asking price as LA positions themselves to continue to go all-in on their two-year window to win it all. Which that two-year window would certainly work with Jones when you consider the dead money for Jones on a buyout would go down to about $7.75 million in 2023. But given the Rams’ monetary commitments already on the books the next two seasons, LA would have to do some serious restructuring to even make Julio working money-wise a remote possibility.
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