Should the Patriots trade for Julio Jones?

Should the Patriots trade for Julio Jones? They obviously really need a great receiver, but is he the right one at this point? He’ll be 32 next season. That’s not young at that position. Thoughts? – Chris D.

It’s funny, Chris, I’ve been thinking about this a lot today while waiting to see if Shannon Sharpe gets in any trouble for putting him on the air Monday without Jones apparently knowing about it.

(Maybe he did know. But it sure didn’t seem like it. And Fox Sports is not making the clip available, which tells you they’re at least a little worried about blowback. Covering sports media is never boring, man.)

I hope the Patriots get Jones, to the point that it will be a mild disappointment if he ends up elsewhere.

I say that knowing that there a bunch of concerning variables – his age, his recent injury history, how to make his salary work, whether his production will slip (last season, when he had 771 yards in nine games, was his first under 1,000 yards since 2013, though that’s still excellent per-game production).

It could go wrong. I wonder if he will have a tough time staying on the field going forward. And yet, they really should go get him if the cost is reasonable (a third-round pick, maybe a second). He’s one of the most talented and productive receivers the NFL has ever seen. He’s not the dynamo he was in Super Bowl LIV, but he’s not that far from it – he had more than 3,000 receiving yards combined in 2018-19.

And the Patriots have nothing on the roster even close to as good as even an aging Jones would be.  They’ve spent nearly $160 million in guaranteed money this offseason to bolster the roster. The most obvious missing piece remains a high-end wide receiver. Just his presence on the field would make life easier for Newton or Mac Jones at quarterback.

It would require some maneuvering to make his $15.3 million salary this year fit, but it’s not too daunting, and since they’ve already spent so much money to be competitive this year, what’s one more expenditure on a future Hall of Famer who fills a glaring need? Go get him, Bill.

But what does everyone else think? Should the Patriots trade for Julio Jones? I’ll hear you in the comments.