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It’s not very often that you will ever see this site post a clip from the FS1 sports talk show ‘Undisputed’ but this is a rare exception.
To set up the story: Jones was seen wearing a Dallas Cowboys hoodie when posing for a picture with a fan, which of course had speculation running rampant. Skip Bayless is a Cowboys fan so he and Shannon Sharpe went to yell and debate about Julio going to Dallas.
Then Shannon actually called Julio Jones in the middle of the show. What happened next will BLOW. YOUR. MIND.
This is huge: Shannon Sharpe called Julio Jones live on @undisputed: Julio said he's "out of there" when asked if he wants to stay in Atlanta. He also said he doesn't want to go to the Cowboys. "I want to win."
— NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) May 24, 2021
Holy cow. I don't think he knew he was live. pic.twitter.com/5D8cXjclQt
Yeah. Julio said “I’m outta there” and then shut down the idea of him going to the Cowboys. He does “want to win” and certainly the Falcons haven’t done much winning since their 28-3 Super Bowl collapse against the New England Patriots.
From a journalism standpoint, this isn’t a good thing to do even though it makes for incredible television on an otherwise unwatchable program. On the other hand, Shannon isn’t a journalist so ... (shoulder shrugs). Still probably not a good thing to do but I can’t get worked up about it.
Even if Jones was unaware he was on live television, I doubt he wants to walk his statements back. Ian Rapoport later tweeted that Jones did request a trade from Atlanta a few months ago.
This is why Julio Jones told Shannon Sharpe he’s “out of there.” Because he knows he requested a trade and the team is open to considering it. But it doesn’t mean he will get traded. https://t.co/2F0aFeSr5o
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 24, 2021
It’s very obvious that the Seattle Seahawks are not trading for Julio Jones so I’m not even entertaining that level of rosterbation in the comments section. With that said, Julio is still very much a top-tier receiver at 32 years old and was 2nd in DVOA last season, so I’d really love for him not to end up on any of the San Francisco 49ers, Arizona Cardinals, or Los Angeles Rams. In fact it’d be better if he just went to the AFC to see out the prime years of his career.
Jones’ contract is up after the 2023 season, and interestingly enough his guaranteed salary drops to just $2 million in 2022 and then none the year after that. We’ll see if yet another great wideout is on his way to a new team after the drama that was last offseason with DeAndre Hopkins and Stefon Diggs.