Despite what the rumors say, the Atlanta Falcons are not trading away Matt Ryan or Julio Jones.
Rumors had circulated that the quarterback and the star wide receiver were being actively shopped by the team. These rumors had already been present in the regular season. It was thought that the team wanted to trade away their aging quarterback before the trade deadline. With the recent wave of changes to the staff, it was believed that the team would shop the quarterback in order to move the franchise in a different direction. To a lesser extent, the team was willing to trade their star wide receiver Jones.
However, that is not the case. The Falcons wants to keep both star players in Atlanta. NFL Network reporter Tom Pelissero shot down the rumors when he said, “The Falcons have not had trade conversations with any other team about Ryan or their star wide receiver Julio Jones.” The reporter went further by saying, “Every expectation is that both players are going to be on the roster in 2021.”
The team had made recent changes in their staff. The organization brought in Arthur Smith as their new head coach Terry Fontenot as the new general manger. Most experts expect that coach Smith will implement an offensive scheme that was similar to the one used during Ryan’s 2016 MVP season.
