The Julio Jones-Atlanta Falcons saga is reaching preposterous levels of insanity

Salary cap hell: the most common trope used by fans and the media to define the Atlanta Falcons entering the 2021 season. From there, it’s gone in completely farcical levels of insanity.

Should the Atlanta Falcons trade Matt Ryan? What about restructuring contracts given the ability to with the wording in signed contracts?

Or, better yet, the craziest level of insanity: the Falcons must trade star wide receiver, Julio Jones, do so immediately (or post-June 1) and part ways with a player that former general manager Thomas Dimitroff traded up to acquire, despite the major pushback from his former boss, a man named Bill Belichick (where’s that name been heard before?)

From there, it’s gone in levels that Julio’s not healthy anymore, or that guys like Jarvis Landry is a better player and leader of men than him. Right, because Julio hasn’t had a nagging hamstring issue in a COVID-19 year where a lot of players had leg injuries, or that Julio wasn’t shown in pre-game warmups teaching young receivers on the roster. 

To read more about that farce, check out this piece going more in-depth.

Then, it gets even more insane. Now fans are going off about Julio deleting all mentions of the Falcons from his social media accounts.

Come on now. This happened before in 2019, remember? Julio deleted everything, started training with Terrell Owens, and people started trying to paint him as a “diva” wide receiver.

Yet, people seem to forget who Julio Jones is. Or that, during a recent interview on the critically-acclaimed “Rich Eisen Show”, Dimitroff explained those contracts given to Julio, and conversely, Matt Ryan was designed with owner Arthur Blank’s mindset: that they’d be “Atlanta Falcons for life”.

When he’s on the field, yes he’s had some dropped passes, including a few for touchdowns, there’s no denying. That said, the Falcons’ offense is much more lethal when Julio’s actively commanding respect by opposing defenses and still being able to put defenders on skates.

This best receiver in the NFL wears number 11 for the Atlanta Falcons

Help me out here: how many receivers truly are better than Julio in the NFL right now? And of those players, how many have dropped touchdown passes?

There are people saying guys like Mike Evans and Chris Godwin are better than Julio simply because they have what he doesn’t: a Super Bowl championship. Not even close, folks.

Did anyone see Godwin dropping passes left and right during that run? Or that Evans has been known to have butterfingers, both with and without gloves? Guess not, because championships are the end all be all now.

Let’s go to Davante Adams, who’s actually on record saying he might not be in Green Bay if Aaron Rodgers isn’t there. Kind of a diva quote there. Or Antonio Brown, who’s the biggest diva in the league today when not under Tom Brady’s lock and key.

It’s amazing how, just a few weeks ago, people were salivating about Kyle Pitts joining this receiving unit. Now that he’s officially part of it, people are actively trying to blow it up to fit their narrative and ruin the potential this Falcons offense might be in 2021.

It’s also amazing that people are bashing new general manager Terry Fontenot for simply doing his job and “listening” to phone calls. Just because he’s actively performing the duties he’s tasked with doesn’t mean it’s actually going to happen, so stop speculating.

Face it, folks: Julio’s a Falcon, no matter what the media is trying to portray. And on September 12th, in the home opener against the Philadelphia Eagles, he’s going to do what he does best and he is going to do in an Atlanta Falcons uniform.