It’s beginning to feel like Julio himself orchestrated the chaos

The drama that has become Julio Jones and the Atlanta Falcons reached a boiling point Monday and one thing became perfectly clear – the franchise didn’t want to get rid of him, he wanted to rid himself of the franchise.

One cannot blame Julio Jones for coming to this conclusion as players in their 30’s don’t want to rebuild but it doesn’t make it any easier.

However, Julio should have been man enough to tell the fans of the Atlanta Falcons that this is what he wanted. Instead, he and his representatives allowed fans to rip on general manager Terry Fontenot and head coach Arthur Smith for decisions that he apparently made a long time ago.

Per Ian Rapaport, Julio Jones went to them and requested a trade. That request puts into focus everything that has gone in the last several months from free agency signings, draft picks, and the rumors from teams and players about Julio being out in Atlanta.

Julio Jones wanted the drama to ensue

Fans are quick to blame franchises and front offices when things don’t go right. Given that neither Terry Fontenot nor Arthur Smith have ties or loyalty to players already here in Atlanta, it would have made sense for them to move in a different direction as opportunities unfolded.

That said, all of the rumors and leaks to media were by Julio and his reps – that became crystal clear Monday morning on Undisputed with Skip and Shannon.

If you have ever been involved in television or radio, then you know produces don’t simply go off the cuff, unless it’s in an interview in which case, they have no control. You also know that most interviews are controlled – meaning a person’s handlers want questions ahead of time for their client to not be caught in a “gotcha” moment.

In this industry, what does not happen is someone “cold calling” anyone – let alone an NFL superstar and asking them the question that Shannon asked in which Julio responded with “I am outta there”.

It was all contrived and planned.

This would also explain the picture that started to circulate on social media this weekend that captured Julio wearing a Dallas Cowboys sweater in public.

Julio and his people are tired of waiting for Terry Fontenot and the Atlanta Falcons to make a move and wanted to create the hysteria that he did this morning to get the ball rolling. Head coach Arthur Smith said a couple weeks ago when he joined Rich Eisen, that the rumors were not coming from the Falcons and that they were all other options to explore as well.

For this stunt to have taken place just a few days leads me to believe this is Julio truly wanting out and his team found a willing media partner to help escalate his departure from a franchise and a fan base that loved him for the last decade.