Falcons' big mistake isn't trading Julio Jones, it's not also dealing Matt Ryan and others for a full rebuild

Atlanta's attempt to escape from the middle of the NFL pack has been, as always, half-hearted

Oh, poor Falcons fans, I weep for thee. Not because of the Julio Jones trade; as we have been telling you in this space for months, that was all they were ever going to get in a $15M salary dump. Nah, the real problem is that Jones is the only meaningful – or quasi-meaningful – trade that the perpetually middling franchise has made. The problem is that Matt Ryan isn't gone, too, and it's compounded by the last three trade deadlines in which management was maleficent in its dereliction of duty to retool for the future and deal aging players on bloated contracts while they still could. So they end up dealing arguably the most impactful player in the history of the franchise and surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer for effectively what the Falcons themselves gave to Baltimore a year ago for the right to take backup tight end Hayden Hurst off their hands. Yeah, it really is that bad.