OBJ or Julio?

Looking for a good pick-me-up during this lull in your NFL life? Still feeling the afterglow of the didn't-see-that-coming 2020 Browns season and need something to breathe new life into it?

Sure, the college draft accomplished that to a degree recently, but its shelf life is relatively short until the Browns hit the field in earnest, and that might not eventuate until a few months from now.

Need something to latch on to, to sustain talking about this finally-relevant football team until then? How about this?

The Atlanta Falcons and Julio Jones are in the midst of a divorce. The 10-year -- and seven-time Pro Bowl -- wide receiver wants out and the new Atlanta front office is trying to accommodate him. "Right now, I wanna win," he said the other day.

Finding a fit is proving somewhat difficult for Falcons General Manager Terry Fontenot. He is asking for a No. 1 pick. Not gonna happen.

Jones is still among the best wideouts in the NFL, but he is 32 years old. Fontenot is looking for someone to pick up the final year of his contract. That's $15.3 million.

Most teams would shy away from money like that. The Browns probably would be one of them. Except for one thing.They have a bargaining chip.

Why deal a high draft choice for Jones when you can trade something just as valuable, if not more valuable, to get him into a Seal Brown and Orange uniform? Like a player who would fit perfectly from a fiscal and talent standpoint?

Who would you rather see playing opposite Jarvis Landry, Julio Jones or Odell Beckham Jr.? Thats right, a straight-up swap of high-profile wide receivers. Jones wants to win? Taking a close look at what happened last season on the southern shores of Lake Erie might convince him. 

Both men will earn in the $15 million neighborhood this season. There's your fiscal equivalent, although the 28-year-old Beckham still has three years left on his deal. Fontenot would get three contract years in exchange for someone anxious to leave.

Both men ostensibly would fit in nicely with their new team. At 6-3, 220 pounds, Jones would give Baker Mayfield the large (and reliable) target that would help elevate his game. And Beckham would flourish with Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. He certainly hasn't with Mayfield.

For whatever reason, the two have not bonded and become the ideal combination the front office envisioned when then-GM John Dorsey obtained Beckham from the New York Giants before the 2019 season. It's not an accident Mayfield has connected more with Landry and Rashard Higgins.

The only holdup on the possibility of at least discussing such a deal would be Beckham's current physical status. According to reports, his rehab from a torn ACL in week seven last season has gone well and he should be ready for the season opener.

Does Browns General Manager Andrew Berry want to go through a third season trying to solve that mystery or seriously think about bringing Jones to Cleveland, where he should have been for the last 10 seasons?

Many fans remember the 2011 college draft when the Browns surrendered the sixth overall pick in exchange for the Falcons' first-, second- and fourth-rounders that year and a first and fourth in 2012.

That turned out to be defensive tackle Phil Taylor, wide receiver Greg Little, fullback Owen Marecic, quarterback Brandon Weeden and linebacker James-Michael Johnson. Each forgettable in his own way.

The Falcons got a wide receiver who has caught 848 passes for nearly 12,900 yards (15.2 yards a grab) in his distinguished career. Sure would have looked nice in a Browns uniform in that span. And now there is an opportunity, slim perhaps, to finally make that happen.

As for the previous question -- who would you rather see playing opposite Landry, Julio Jones or Odell Beckham Jr.? -- I'll go with  Jones with the following recommendation:

According to Michael Giardi of the NFL Network, quoting an AFC executive, "If you think you have a chance to win big, you have to make that call. If you think you have a chance to have a chance, pick up the phone. (Jones) can change the entire calculus of your offense."

That's good enough for me.