How Good Was Julio Jones Actually?

Intro there are plenty of legendary wide receivers throughout the history of the NFL however almost none have been tougher to stop than Julio Jones Julio's legendary Prime with the Atlanta Falcons proved that he was simply unguardable here is the story of the Falcons best receiver ever quintus Lopez Jones was born on February 8th 1989 in Foley Alabama when he was in seventh grade his mother Queen gave him the nickname Julio what the world knows him as today in High School high school at Foley High School Jones established himself self as one of the most talented wide receivers in the country picking up 75 receptions 1,36 yards and 16 touchdowns in only his junior year he even earned the nickname Waffle House because he was always open however football was far from the only sport that Jones was turning heads in he was also a state champion in both the long jump and triple jump schools were foaming at the mouth to get a chance to add a generational talent to their roster ESPN gave Jones a scouting grade of 95 ranked him as the best wide receiver in the country the best player in Alabama and the second best player in the entire 2008 recruiting class behind only defensive end dcoin Bowers Julio received offers from almost every program in the country and could have gone to any school he wanted to however he chose to stay in his hometown State and commit to Nick Sabin Alabama one of the top programs in all of the NCAA College Jones got his college career off to a hot start as a true freshman in the 14 games that he appeared in he flashed his abilities and total 58 receptions 924 yards and four touchdowns Alabama finished the year with a 12-2 record capping their season off with a tough 3117 loss against Utah in the Sugar Bowl while the year ended on a sour note the college football world was extremely high on Julio Jones his 63 frame paired with his Elite jumping ability made him almost impossible for opposing secondaries to even attempt to defend after a solid freshman year Julio took a step back statistically in 20 n this mainly came as a result of the Crimson Tide being a run first team with an elite backfield Bama had Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson as a one-w punch Julio still finished the year with the respectable 43 receptions for 596 yards and four touchdowns leading the team in each metric Jones played his role perfectly even if he was not featured as much as he was his freshman year Alabama finished the year with a 14 and0 record capping their season off with a 37-21 win over Texas in the national championship 2010 went on to be Julio's final year at Alabama he returned to form despite the Crimson Tide featuring a running back Trio of Ingram Richardson and Eddie Lacy Jones made sure to get his there was a much heavier emphasis placed on the passing game and Julio was the main beneficiary he had a career year pulling in 78 receptions for 1133 yards and seven touchdowns setting career marks in each metric to put the cherry on top he also picked up an additional 135 yds and two touchdowns on the the ground Jones was one of the most NFL dangerous weapons in college football and no one doubted that he was not going to thrive at the next level following his junior year at Alabama Jones suffered a broken bone in his right foot despite this he still performed at the combine and received surgery heading into his rookie season even with the injury Jones still ran a blazing 4.39 40 yard dash the injury did not do much to hurt his draft stock either as the Atlanta Falcons traded up with Cleveland to select him with the sixth overall pit of the 2011 NFL draft the deal sent Atlanta's 2011 first second and fourth round picks along with their 2012 first and fourth round picks to the Browns and in return the Falcons received their Cornerstone wide receiver to pair up with their franchise quarterback Matt Ryan in his rookie season Jones had a very solid year he joined a Falcons team that was loaded with Elite pass catchers and Tony Gonzalez and Rody white along with this he was forced to miss two games with hamstring injuries that kept him from having a th000 yard season he finished the year with 54 catches for 959 yards and eight touchdowns Atlanta finished the regular season with a 10- six record and clinched to postseason birth however Julio's playoff debut did not go as planned the Falcons were demolished by the Giants Jones pulled in a team High seven passes for 64 yards however Atlanta could not get things going against their eventual Super Bowl winning opponent real quick we welcome you to join the halftime family if you like watching videos of the NFL's best players in Rising talents don't miss out on all the latest greatest and legendary stories our channel is producing back at it in the following year 2012 Julio Jones far surpassed the 1,000 yard Mark for the first time in his career in this season Jones was able to suit up in all 16 games and he proved himself as one of the most promising young wide receivers that the league had to offer he finished his 2012 campaign with 79 receptions for 1198 yards and 10 touchdowns despite being only 23 years old Julio was Playoffs already proving to be a player that was simply unguardable these efforts gave him the first Pro Bowl appearance of his career after posting a 13-3 record in the regular season the Falcons made a return to the playoffs things went much better for them this time around taking down the Seattle Seahawks by a final score of 30-28 in a divisional round nailbiter however in the NFC Championship they were on the wrong side of a close game falling to the San Francisco 49ers 28-24 despite the loss Jones had an incredible game pulling in 11 the 13 targets he received for 182 yards and two touchdowns he did everything he could to earn the franchise their second Super Bowl appearance however they came up just short coming off of the first pro bowl season of his career and Jones establishing himself as an Elite Talent in the playoffs he had a significant setback in the 2013 season in week five he suffered a pedal foot fracture against the Jets that kept him sideline for the entirety of the Year despite the massive injury in 2013 Jones was back better than ever when he made a return in the 2014 season he finished the regular season with 1, 1593 yards and six touchdowns on 103 receptions he earned a return to the Pro Bowl however the Falcons failed to make the playoffs in The Following Season Jones proved that he was one of the most unguardable wide receivers in NFL history and had one of the best seasons ever from a player at to position he finished the season with 136 receptions 1,871 yds and eight touchdowns leading the league in both receptions and receiving yards along with this he led all receivers in yards per game with 11 16.9 this was a historic season for Jones currently standing as the third most receiving yards from a player in a single season this Elite season landed him another Pro Bowl selection along with the first allpro first team selection of his career Jones followed Super Bowl up this historic season with another great run in 2016 around this time he was looked at as one of if not the best wide receivers that the league had to offer even some of the top secondaries in the league were left with no answer when it came to trying to stop him despite only playing in 14 regular season games he still posted 83 receptions 1,49 yards and six touchdowns Jones also led the league with 100.6 receiving yards per game he made a return to both the Pro Bowl and all proo first team Atlanta finally put an end to their playoff drought and put together a very impressive postseason run they took down the Seattle Seahawks in the divisional round by a final score of 3620 and defeated the Green Bay Packers in the NFC championship 44-21 this match them up against the Patriots in the Super Bowl early on in the game it appeared as if the Falcons had the game in the bag holding a dominant 28-3 lead in the third quarter however things took a turn quickly and New England came out by a final score of 3428 in overtime Atlanta allowed the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history a lot of it had to do with Tom Brady for one and two Bill bellich put a master plan together in order to bottle up Julio Jones with that Julio managed to lead the team in both receptions and receiving yards with four and 87 respectively Julio Jones had another strong showing in the 2017 season hosting 88 receptions for 1,444 yards and three touchdowns in the regular season this earned him another Pro Bowl nod along with an all pro second team selection shockingly this was Jones's final playoff appearance as a member of the Falcons they took down the LA Rams in the Wild Card round by a final score of 2613 but were sent home by the Eagles in the divisional round in the 2018 season Julio Jones had another historic year in terms of receiving yards he proved that he was Elite he finished the regular season with 113 receptions for 1,677 yards and eight touchdowns averaging 104.8 yards per game he led the league in both receiving yards and receiving yards per game despite this currently ranking as the 18th most receiving yards in a season he was only named to the the All Pro second team and Pro Bowl despite the premier Year from Jones the Falcons failed to make the postseason 2019 was the final year of Julio's Prime he totaled 1394 yards and six touchdowns on 99 catches he was selected to the All Pro second team in 2020 Julio suffered lingering hamstring issues that limited his appearance to nine games this wound up being his final year with the Falcons and since this season he has been far from the top receiver he was earlier in his career and he has continued to age into his mid-30s Jones has spent time with the Tennessee Titans Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Philadelphia Eagles Jones will go down as one of the most talented and unguardable wide receivers of all time heading into the 2024 season he has racked up Seven Pro Bowl appearances two allp pro first team nominations three allp Pro second team nominations and was named to the Hall of Fame 2010's team he currently sits at 914 receptions 66 receiving touchdowns Jones ranks 24th all time in career receptions 16th in receiving yards and 61st in receiving touchdowns in his prime Jones was one of the most Unstoppable talents at wide receiver while his immense amount of talent was never enough to bring the Falcons a Super Bowl it sure was exciting to watch one of the most unguardable receivers ever purely dominate is Julio Jones a first ballot Hall of Famer what was your favorite Julio memory share your thoughts in the comments don't forget to join the family and thank you for watching the halftime show see you in the next one