Getty Falcons trade linebacker Deion Jones to the Cleveland Browns.
The Atlanta Falcons have finally found a trade partner for their Pro Bowl linebacker Deion Jones.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Atlanta is sending Jones to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for a late-round draft pick.
In order to make Jones more appealing to buyers, the Falcons restructured Jones’ contract last month, converting $8.5 million of Jones’ salary into a $6.8 million bonus. The restructuring also included three void years and gave Atlanta roughly $9.5 million in cap space, per OverTheCap.com.
Also because of the new contract, the Browns just have to pay Jones a salary of $1.39 million, plus $31,250 for each game he’s active, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
As for Atlanta, they will carry a $12.14 million dead cap hit in 2023 from Deion Jones.
Falcons Placed Jones on IR Ahead of 2022 Season
Jones headed to the IR on September 1 ahead of the Falcons’ season opener loss to the New Orleans Saints.
The 2017 Pro Bowler was set to compete for a reserve role behind third-year linebacker Mykal Walker and veteran Rashaan Evans.
Jones, who was selected in the second round of the 2016 draft by Atlanta, has started 48 games over the past three seasons, logging 652 career tackles.
Due to off-season shoulder surgery, Jones missed nearly all of training camp. He returned for the Falcons’ preseason finale against the Jaguars where played the team’s first defensive series.
Falcons Initially ‘Failed’ to Trade Jones
The Falcons initially ‘failed’ to trade Jones ahead of the 2022 season.
“The Falcons have failed in attempts to this point to trade LB Deion Jones but have decided not to cut him, believing he won’t be a distraction to the team, and salary cap savings are minimal,” a source told The Athletic’s Jeff Schultz back in August. “The team continues to monitor Jones’ attitude and rehab from shoulder surgery.”
If the Falcons didn’t end up re-doing his contract then a team would have taken on his $9.64 million base salary for the season, which clearly no team wanted to do for a player who had been battling an injury.
The trade ultimately comes by no surprise since the Falcons had been molding third-year linebacker Mykal Walker and then signed veteran Rashaad Evans and drafted Troy Andersen over the offseason.
Walker, a fourth-round pick out of Fresno State in 2020 started just two games last season, recording 35 total tackles in 17 games. Now, he’s starting every game and wears a green dot on his helmet as the defense’s lead communicator.
Evans was originally selected by the Titans in the first round (22nd overall) of the 2018 NFL Draft. After a lack of consistency, Tennessee declined his fifth-year option ahead of the 2021 season. However, his former coaches, Dean Pees and Arthur Smith still believed he had value and brought him to Atlanta and it appears he’s back on the right track, to what could be, a career-high season for him.
Meanwhile, Andersen Atlanta drafted him in the second round of this year’s draft out of Montana State where he played quarterback and linebacker.
Walker currently leads the Falcons with 44 tackles and Evans isn’t too far behind with 31. As for Andersen, he has 13.