OPINION: Eagles Need to Stay Disciplined When it Comes to Julio Jones

PHILADELPHIA - Of course the Eagles are interested in Julio Jones.

Philadelphia is always seemingly involved in any big-name player that hits the market and fans should embrace that the Eagles are kicking the tires of a future Hall of Fame receiver as confirmed by Ed Kracz, publisher of SI.com's Eagles Maven.

It's always a prudent idea to do your due diligence in any instance just in case the market falls your way and that's one of the strengths of Howie Roseman as opposed to other general managers who may shut down avenues a little bit too quickly.

Jones to the Eagles right now makes little sense, however, outside the vacuum of he's a really good player destined for Canton who's a perfect fit from a football standpoint.

That's the exact sentiment Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay expressed last week.

"He’s a talented guy, a future Hall of Famer, so who wouldn’t want him?" Slay said when discussing Jones and his playful attempt on social media to recruit the star WR.

Turns out Roseman was already on it, trying to grease the skids both with Atlanta and in-house.

The thought is intoxicating. The imposing 6-foot-3, 220 pound Jones at the X spot and the dominoes fall from there with 166-pound rookie DeVonta Smith given room to work off the line of scrimmage at the Z, and Jalen Reagor settling in as the flex option.

No need to worry about the limitations of Greg Ward or the needed development of Travis Fulgham, J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, Quez Watkins, or John Hightower.

That said, the potential trade doesn't make a ton of sense from either side when you break that vacuum seal

To start, you have Jones' age, 32, for an organization in a self-proclaimed transition phase along with his price tag on two fronts: an environment where the Eagles' need to wait for June 1 relief just to sign their rookie class coupled with the draft capital it would take to acquire Jones.

The latter will likely seem like a bargain in the short term but would affect the optionality Roseman has created as the safety net for an unproven starting quarterback in Jalen Hurts.

Julio Jones makes sense to SI.com Eagle Maven publisher Ed Kracz :: James McKeith/SI.com Eagle Maven graphic coordinator

From the latest NFLPA figures, the Eagles currently have $3,814,453 in salary-cap space and will be adding $4M post-June 1 for previous designations on Alshon Jeffery and Malik Jackson. If they trade or release Zach Ertz you can add another $8.5M to the GoFundMe Jones initiative.

Monetarily, Roseman could get it done with Jones' current $15.3 cap number but would need other avenues to get the rookies under contract with restructures of Fletcher Cox and Lane Johnson still in play and other less obvious routes like a trade of Brandon Brooks, something the veteran Pro Bowl guard admitted has been discussed last week.

Signing the rookie class is something that will eat up right around $3.7M with the top three picks - Smith, Landon Dickerson, and Milton Williams - the only ones factoring in right now because of the offseason top-51 rule.

An extension for Jones, something he's looking for by the way would likely lower Jones' 2021 cap number in exchange for more guaranteed money by Roseman's trademarked voidable years' bookkeeping trick.

From Jones' perspective, he's on record that he wants to win now and the league does not look at Philadelphia as a contender due to a rookie head coach and the QB whose development is still in the early stages.

More so, Jones will also want to be in an offense with a high-volume thrower capable of getting him back to the 1,300- or 1,400-yard club that he was a staple of through the 2019 season.

Jones' low-water mark from 2014 through 2019 was 1,394 receiving yards in 2019 before a nagging hamstring injury cost him seven games last season. He was at 771 yards in nine games, a number that projects to 1,371 had the former Alabama star stayed healthy throughout so the production didn't exactly waiver.

The last thing a 32-year-old WR coming off an injury wants is black-and-white numbers slaves not factoring the context of the shift away from Matt Ryan to Hurts on his bottom line, though.

The latest development is that Jones has spoken to Seattle's Russell Wilson about a potential marriage in the Pacific Northwest.

The Falcons continue to field calls from teams interested in trading for Julio Jones. The Seahawks have had discussions about a possible trade with Atlanta, per sources. In fact, QB Russell Wilson & Julio Jones have spoken to discuss the possibility of playing together.
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) May 30, 2021

No matter how this unfolds, the Eagles need to show discipline to steer clear of Jones.

It seems like it's an annual tradition now that Roseman understands the Eagles need to get younger and more cost-effective before the organization talks themselves into the thought that it's a little bit better than outsiders think.

In 2021, count me in on that sentiment because of the offensive line and the assumption it will not suffer historic attrition in back-to-back years but the ceiling is still not high enough to merit an all-in approach on Jones.

John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.

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