Julio Jones is arguably the most dominant wide receiver in football, but the Falcons have had trouble getting him into the end zone over the past two or so years. No matter how you look at the numbers, Jones is entering a class of his own.
And not the kind of class he wants to be in.
In Thursday night’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, Jones hauled in 10 passes for 169 yards. He failed to find the end zone, which was also the case in 14 out of 16 games last season. If you want to know how Jones stacks up against some of the best red zone targets in the NFL, here’s a comparison:
FREE JULIO @AtlantaFalcons pic.twitter.com/Z6KSA0FxdG
— Prime Bam Childress (@fearthe_beard11) September 7, 2018
Of course, the shockingly poor numbers aren’t all his fault. The Falcons had one of the worst red-zone offenses in football last season, and Twitter roasted them when that trend continued on Thursday. They didn’t even have him on the field during their first trip to the goal line on Thursday. Then they tried to force him the ball on their final possession, with Matt Ryan throwing too high and not giving him catchable balls.
Jones finished the 2017 season with 1,444 yards receiving and only three touchdowns. That was the fewest number of scores in NFL history for a receiver with over 1,300 yards. If the Falcons want to be more efficient in the red zone going forward, they would be wise to find more creative ways to get Jones the ball — and have him on the field.
