Does Julio Jones make the Titans Super Bowl contenders?
On Sunday morning, the big trade we all knew was coming became official. The Falcons traded receiver Julio Jones to the Titans for a 2022 second-round draft pick, and a 2023 fourth-round draft pick. Per Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the Titans also get a 2023 sixth-round pick, and Tennessee will take on Jones entire $15.3 million salary in 2020. The Falcons also take on a dead cap charge of $7.75 million in the 2021 league year. Jones signed a three-year, $66 million contract extension in 2019, and hes contracted through the 2023 season. He has cap charges of $19.263 million in both 2022 and 2023, per OverTheCap.com. This is obviously a super charge for Tennessees offense, and through the Falcons do have Calvin Ridley  who Ive posited is ready to be a top receiver in the NFL  and fourth-overall pick Kyle Pitts as a matchup nightmare at tight end, new head coach and offensive shot-caller Arthur Smith will miss Jones; the receiver he never got to work with. And its certainly interesting that Jones is going from what would have been an Arthur Smith offense in Atlanta to what had been an Arthur Smith offense in Tennessee  Smith made himself interesting as a head coaching candidate as the Titans offensive coordinator in 2019 and 2020. Smith had been the Titans tight ends coach before he was promoted to offensive coordinator, and in the interest of continuity, Tennessee had promoted Todd Downing, who was the teams tight ends coach after Smith, to Smiths former position. So, with that in mind, you can expect to see most of the hallmarks of what made the Titans offense the NFLs fourth-best in 2020, per Football Outsiders opponent-adjusted metrics.