Atlanta paid Cleveland five draft choices to move from No. 27…
Atlanta paid Cleveland five draft choices to move from No. 27 to No. 6 in 2011 and select Julio Jones. The price was enormous, but Jones became a franchise icon, seven-time Pro Bowler and two-time first-team All-Pro who helped Atlanta reach Super Bowl LI. Cleveland turned the package into several players and additional moves, but none approached Jones's impact. The Falcons' aggressive bet delivered a true superstar and ultimately wins the trade.
Atlanta Falcons Received
- pick 2011 1st round pick (6th overall, Julio Jones )
Cleveland Browns Received
- pick 2011 1st round pick (26th overall subsequently traded, Jonathan Baldwin )
- pick 2011 2nd round pick (59th overall, Greg Little )
- pick 2011 4th round pick (124th overall, Owen Marecic)
- pick 2012 1st round pick (22nd overall, Brandon Weeden)
- pick 2012 4th round pick (118th overall subsequently traded, Jarius Wright)
Trade Analysis
Atlanta's front office believed its offense needed an explosive receiver opposite Roddy White and decided that Julio Jones was worth an unusually aggressive move. The Falcons climbed from No. 27 to No. 6 in the 2011 draft, sending Cleveland their first-, second- and fourth-round selections that year plus first- and fourth-round choices in 2012. It was one of the steepest draft-day prices of the era.
Jones justified the conviction. He became the centerpiece of Atlanta's passing game, earned seven Pro Bowl selections and two first-team All-Pro honors, and produced multiple seasons among the league leaders in receiving yards. His combination of size, speed and consistency helped sustain one of the NFL's most productive offenses and played a major role in the Falcons' run to Super Bowl LI. Few draft-day targets deliver enough to make a five-pick expenditure look defensible; Jones did.
Cleveland had the opposite challenge: turning quantity into stars. The Browns used or redirected the acquired capital through several moves. Greg Little became a starting receiver for a time, Owen Marecic had a short tenure, and the 2012 first-rounder became Brandon Weeden. Other selections were moved again, including the first-round slot that eventually became Jonathan Baldwin elsewhere and the 2012 fourth-round choice later used by Minnesota on Jarius Wright. The package created options, but Cleveland never converted those options into comparable impact.
The cost prevents Atlanta from receiving an effortless perfect score. Giving away that much draft capital reduced flexibility and increased the risk around one player. Yet the purpose of trading up is to acquire rare talent, and Jones became exactly that.
Cleveland won the value chart on the day of the deal. Atlanta won the football history that followed, because the Falcons landed a generational receiver while the Browns' collection of assets failed to yield a cornerstone.