Falcons rumors: 6 Julio Jones trade partners that could make a deal, ranked

4. San Francisco 49ers

If an NFL player who has remotely been near Kyle Shanahan at any point in his career becomes available either via trade or free agency, the assumption seems to be that the San Francisco 49ers are going to be interested in said player and the possibility of reuniting them with their current head coach. Such is the case with Jones and Shanahan as the latter was the offensive coordinator in Atlanta when the Falcons made it to the Super Bowl — albeit ill-fatedly.

San Francisco has been in the spotlight already for much of the offseason after they made the big trade up from No. 12 to 3 in the 2021 NFL Draft in order to select North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance, even if they threw up a genius smokescreen in the form of Mac Jones. Now it’s about putting Lance and, likely for a time, Jimmy Garoppolo in the best spot to operate the widely heralded Shanahan offense.

The 49ers have some strong young receivers in Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk, both of whom have flashed big time in this offense and are great fits for what Shanahan likes to do. While that’s true, they don’t have a true alpha in the wide receiver room right now and, if that’s something that the front office or coaching staff believes they need, then a play for a Julio Jones trade could be in order.