Could Julio Jones be in the cards for 49ers?
Could the Atlanta Falcons’ Jones be latest and greatest of Shanahan’s call-backs with 49ers?
Julio Jones could be the pièce de résistance in Kyle Shanahan’s never-ending reunion tour.
Since Shanahan took over as the 49ers’ coach in 2017, he’s made a habit of acquiring players that he previously coached.
Jones could be next, if the Atlanta Falcons trade the seven-time Pro Bowl wide receiver and ditch his $15.3 million salary. Such salary cap-saving moves kicked in Monday, effectively pushing “dead money” onto next year’s cap.
The link to Shanahan makes the 49ers a logical candidate, not to mention their need for another wide receiver to complement Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel on a playoff-ready roster.
“The advantage to having been with someone is you know what type of guy they are,” Shanahan said in March 2017, when his initial crop of free agents included reunions with quarterback Brian Hoyer and wide receiver Pierre Garçon.
Jones made All-Pro the two seasons Shanahan served as the Falcons’ coordinator, in 2015 and ’16.
That reunion would be Shanahan’s biggest since trading for left tackle Trent Williams a year ago, all due respect to center Alex Mack coming aboard in free agency.
“This was a preferred destination of mine, just because of the familiarity I have with Kyle and the offense,” Williams said last April. “Obviously with this being an ascending team, I thought I’d fit right in. … I’m champing at the bit to get on the field with a Super Bowl-caliber team.”
Williams, 32, parlayed his comeback last season into the richest contract ever for an NFL offensive lineman this past March.
Jones, 32, is five years removed from helping the Falcons reach the Super Bowl with Shanahan, who likely isn’t deterred by Jones’ hamstring injury that limited him to seven games last year for the lastplace Falcons (4-12).
“Anyone I’ve coached in the past that I have relationships with, especially a great dude like Julio, obviously I have a ton of respect for,” Shanahan said last Tuesday when asked about possibly trading for Jones.
Shanahan hasn’t had any real disastrous reunions, the closest being Hoyer’s 0-6 mark as a starter and Garçon’s career-ending neck injury in 2018. Most players have aptly filled roles. Williams is the only one to make a Pro Bowl.
VETERAN TE WALKER REPORTEDLY WILL AUDITION FOR A COMEBACK >> Tight end Delanie Walker was drafted by the 49ers 15 years ago and blossomed into a multi-faceted weapon. He’ll have just turned 37 when the 49ers play their exhibition opener in August — and he just might be back in a San Francisco uniform.
Walker, who spent his first seven seasons with the 49ers, will work out for them today, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported. Also expected to work out is MyCole Pruitt, a former teammate of Walker’s on the Tennessee Titans, with whom Walker played seven years before sitting out last season.
Walker had a career-high 94 receptions for 1,088 yards in 2015 en route to the first of three consecutive Pro Bowl nods with the Titans.
In other news, the 49ers released quarterback Josh Johnson and tight end Daniel Helm, and they signed wide receiver Andy Jones, whose 11 career catches came with the 2018 Detroit Lions.
BLAIR FINDS NEW HOME, REUNITES WITHSALEH>> Ronald Blair’s comeback won’t be happening on the 49ers’ defensive line, but rather in a reunion with coach Robert Saleh on the New York Jets.
Blair tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee midway through the 2019 season, when he pursued Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson in what would be the 49ers’ first loss after an 8-0 start. A setback kept Blair out all of last season, and he was released March 12. He reportedly visited with the 49ers’ medical staff in April to evaluate the possibility of re-signing.
The Jets announced his signing Tuesday morning, and Blair wrote “New Beginnings” on an Instagram picture of his new locker (No. 54).
A 2016 fifth-round draft pick out of Appalachian State, Blair totaled 13 1/2 sacks in 47 games (two starts) for the 49ers.
The bigger ACL comeback facing the 49ers’ defensive line is that of Nick Bosa, who’s continued his rehabilitation in his native Fort Lauderdale, Fla., rather than at the team’s voluntary workouts in Santa Clara.