LA Rams: Why No Julio Jones trade was the right choice

How much of a team player is Julio Jones?

Let’s face it, the ideals of loyalty and taking one for the team may not be extinct in the NFL, but it certainly qualifies for the endangered species list. And I’m not here to tell you how greed has ruined the sport that I love. Greed kept the NFL playing the 2020 NFL season when common sense might have led to the decision to pack everything up and wait it out safely for a year.

Los Angeles Rams

Greed drives the redistribution of talent from great teams to lesser teams. Greed drives NFL owners to add the 17th game to the regular-season schedule. Greed is a huge motivation, and to deny that is to either kid me or try to fool our astute readers. I’m not going to do that.

Julio Jones exudes confidence. He believes in himself, and as much as Matthew Stafford or Aaron Rogers or Deshaun Watson, he wants to play for a competitor who gives him a chance to win it all and also to feature him in the passing game. Tom Brady skipped out of New England, and suddenly the Tampa Bay Buccaneers win it all? Veterans all across the NFL sat up and took notice.

While the Tennessee Titans desperately needed a new receiver to assume their WR1 role, the LA Rams are literally bursting at the seams for receivers. And the Rams have an offense that is clearly built to feature Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp. Behind them, the Rams have second-year player Van Jefferson and veteran DeSean Jackson. How many targets could Julio Jones realistically expect in this offense? At his current salary, he would logically expect to be the featured wide receiver at any team he was traded to.

Julio Jones is getting paid like a top receiver in the NFL, and he likely wants to continue to be compensated at that level. That means he needs to get the lion’s share of the passes and needs to lead the team in receiving yards. That’s a tough script to follow in the Rams’ offense because the head coach runs the show. Jones may want to be the number one receiver, but that may not align with the Rams game plan.