As it usually happens, the rich got richer. Somehow, someway, all teams in the NFL allowed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to sign Julio Jones.
Now, the Bucs offense, which already had Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, will boast one of the most impressive wideout corps we've seen in a long time, assuming Jones is back to full strength after a couple of injury-riddled seasons.
It was a quiet offseason for Jones. Nonetheless, it's not like the Bucs were the only team that came up knocking. According to Pat McAfee, the Colts were also interested in signing him, yet they lowballed him:
"The Indianapolis Colts were in the conversation for Julio Jones," McAfee revealed. How do we know that? Because, although Julio Jones signed yesterday with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a six million dollar deal — up to eight in incentives —how the f*ck are the Bucs able to pay everybody all the time? Makes no sense."
McAfee lauded Bucs' GM Jason Licht for always getting deals done without breaking the rules, and called out the rest of the teams for not taking a page out of his book:
"He's a weapon," McAfee added. "He's playing shell game with the rules and with the bonuses, he's not breaking any of the rules, ever. Everybody could do what the Buccaneers do. Everybody could do what the Rams do."
The Colts were in dire need of adding another wideout and had plenty of time to work out a deal with Jones, which is why McAfee was so infuriated with the organization:
"Julio this morning chatted with local media and Julio Jones talked about the entire scenario and how he end up with the Buccaneers. (...) Colts fans aren't going to be happy to hear this," McAfee concluded.
Jones is one of the most gifted receivers and route-runners in NFL history, yet injuries held him back over the past two years. Fortunately, he claims that's all water under the bridge and that he's as healthy as he's ever been:
“I don’t have any issues, nothing lingering, holding me back, anything like that,” Jones said. “But it’s just the beginning. So I just have to check all those boxes first and then come out here and play.”
If he's half the player he was in his prime, then the league is in serious trouble.
