There's Reportedly 1 Perceived Favorite For Julio Jones

As early as this week--sometime after June 1-- the Atlanta Falcons are expected to trade star wide receiver Julio Jones. Several teams have been mentioned as potential partners.

One of those teams is the Tennessee Titans. According to NFL Network's Mike Garofolo, the Titans and Los Angeles Rams are two teams that have had actual conversations with the Falcons about acquiring the seven-time Pro Bowler.

On Sunday morning, Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio wrote that "the current expectation in league circles" is that Tennessee ultimately works out a deal for Jones for the price of a second-round pick.

"This isn’t a report that the Titans have offered or will offer a second-round pick, or that the Falcons will take a second-round pick for Jones," Florio said. "They continue to want a first-rounder for Jones, with the Falcons contributing nothing to his salary in 2021 or 2022. This is simply a reflection of the current thinking among folks in the know about where this is all likely to end up."

Last week, ESPN's Dianna Russini reported that the Falcons had discussed offers for Jones, including a future first-round pick from an unnamed team. However, they might not be able to actually trade him for one, unless Atlanta is willing to include an extra pick in the deal as a sweetener.

Jones is a future Hall of Famer with an impeccable resume, but he is 32 years old and coming off a season in which he was limited to only nine games due to injuries. Couple that with the fact he clearly seems to want out of Atlanta and the Falcons don't hold an awful lot of leverage to ask for the moon.

Circling back to the Julio-to-the-Titans rumors, if he is indeed sent to Tennessee, he'll already have the support of Titans wide receiver A.J. Brown, who has been actively recruiting the two-time All-Pro to join forces with him.