Bill Belichick almost prevented Julio Jones from becoming an Atlanta Falcons great

Atlanta Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff was in Mobile, Alabama for the Senior Bowl and made a guest appearance on the Bleacher Report podcast Stick to Football discussing the Julio Jones trade.

We can all agree that Julio Jones has been one of, if not THE, biggest sports star in Atlanta since being drafted in 2011. However, if Thomas Dimitroff would’ve listened to his former boss, Bill Belichick, the Falcons would’ve wound up with a John Baldwin instead of Julio Jones.

Thomas Dimitroff made a guest appearance one Stick to Football and discussed a conversation he had with Bill Belichick leading up the draft.

Dimitroff starts off by stating how the team needed a weapon that was the capabilities to be explosive and take the top off the defense. 2010 saw the end of both Michael Jenkins and Brian Finneran. This left only Roddy White, Harry Douglas, and Eric Weems as starting receivers.

While Eric Weems was speedy and explosive, he was largely ineffective in the passing game and was simply a special teams player. The Falcons needed a receiver.

It is understandable that Dimitroff would turn to Belichick for draft advice as the Atlanta Falcons are the first team Dimitroff has ever managed.

Dimitroff then dives into a conversation he had with Belichick in the lead up to the draft where Bill shared his opinion on the potential trade.

"“I would call him before drafts and it was public knowledge that he wasn’t a real big fan of that. It was one of those things that his feeling was, as a young guy in this business are you sure you want to pair yourself with that for the rest of your career”"

As we all know, the falcons did trade up and draft Julio in one of the biggest trades in NFL history. The Falcons gave up five total picks between the 2011 and 2012 NFL Draft. None of those players drafted by the Browns are still in the league.

Over his time with the Atlanta Falcons, Julio Jones has achieved a great number of accolades

• Fastest receiver to get both 10,000 and 12,000 receiving yards
• 1,400+ receiving yards five consecutive times, no other player has more than three
• extended his streak of 1,000+ yards to six times consecutively
• All-time leader of the Atlanta Falcons
• 25th All-time in receiving yards and has the potential to get to as high as 16th after next season.

Matt Ryan and Julio Jones also have become one of the best quarterback/receiver duos of all time. It is no doubt that Julio Jones is the best receiver in the NFL and will one day have his bust in Canton, Ohio where it belongs.

There was also some discussion between trying to decide between Julio Jones and Georgia receiver AJ Green. Dimitroff agrees that there is a natural crossover between fans of the Georgia Bulldogs and the Atlanta Falcons and tons of Georgia fans would like to see Green stay in Georgia.

"“We were really honed in on Julio for sure, but I’m just saying, who Knows. Someone else might’ve traded up. There might have been a completely different approach to the draft. We wanted Julio all in all. We needed someone that we thought was big and explosive and have longevity to him”"

While both receivers are remarkable and still really great players, albeit Julio Jones has been in a better situation than AJ Green.