NFL Spin Zone
Fansided

Julio Jones the favorite to be NFL’s most productive WR this season?

By Kevin Parvizi

facebooktwitterreddit

Atlanta Falcons superstar wide receiver Julio Jones is unquestionably one of the five best players at the position in the NFL today, and he signed a six-year, $81.432 million contract with $47 million in guarantees at the end of August to confirm that further. Jones missed a game last season, and yet he still finished with the third-most receptions (104) and receiving yards (1,593), putting up six touchdowns and averaging a monstrous 15.3 yards per reception in the process.

ALSO ON SPIN ZONE: Which Tight Ends Should You Start This Week?

Maybe more importantly, only New York Giants rookie and Madden cover guy Odell Beckham Jr. averaged more receiving yards per game, and what’s more astounding about Jones is the fact that he’s averaged 108.7 yards per game in each of the past two seasons combined (he was on a scorching pace in 2013 before missing 11 games with a season-ending injury). While 108.7 yards per game is still below ODB’s average of 108.8 last season, it’s quite an extraordinary average over a span of 20 games.

More from Atlanta Falcons

On Monday Night Football to open the Falcons 2015 regular season, Jones picked up where he left off, blasting the Philadelphia Eagles new-look secondary. Without Jones, the Falcons would not have won this game 26-24, because he was easily the difference. Byron Maxwell had no answers for Jones, who beasted his way to nine receptions for 141 yards and two touchdowns, needing just 11 targets to finish with the second-most receiving yards of all players in Week 1.

Jones’s freakish athletic tools and past production are well-established, so it’s not exactly earth-shattering to say that he’s one of the favorites to lead the league in receptions and receiving yards in 2015. However, it might be time to take it a step further and say that Jones is the favorite to top the league in most receiving stats, with health (he seems to have some very minor hamstring soreness already) being the lone detractor.

As we all know, Kyle Shanahan is the new offensive coordinator in Atlanta, and he has a knack for force-feeding his “X” receiver with targets, whether it’s Andre Johnson or Pierre Garcon. Back in 2013, Garcon- and not Antonio Brown– led the league with 113 receptions, tying Johnson with a league-leading 181 targets. The Washington Redskins made every effort to get the ball to Garcon at all costs, and the same thing could happen with Jones this season.

Of course, Roddy White is a much better No. 2 receiver than Santana Moss, and the same goes for White vs. Kevin Walter. That’s why the target split in Week 1 was just 11 vs. 8 in favor of Jones, but it is worth noting that White only caught four of those eight targets. He did put up a nice-looking 84 yards and is still an effective receiver, but, as we saw last season, it’s hard to count on the 33-year-old’s ability to stay healthy for the duration of a 16-game season.

Brown and ODB are better receivers, in my opinion, but Jones is so good that the difference among all of them doesn’t really matter. He’s clearly the Falcons most dominant player, and he’s their second-most important player behind Matt Ryan. Additionally, Ryan’s accuracy and connection with Jones make the former Alabama star a good bet to lead the league in receiving stats, and a good way to check this is by looking at yards per target.

Against the Eagles, Julio Jones put up 12.82 yards per target, which is just sensational. What’s even more remarkable, though, is the fact that Jones averaged 9.8 yards per target during the entire 2014 season. Gadget player Devin Hester was the only other player on the Falcons to average more yards per target than Ryan’s 7.5 yards per attempt, and the split between Jones and Ryan in efficiency (9.8 YPT for Jones vs. 7.5 Y/A for Ryan) is definitely worth noting.

Maxwell isn’t an elite corner, but he’s no slouch as a No. 1 CB, so it was impressive to see Jones put on a clinic against him. It was as if he was going up against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense, but, well, monster performances like that are the norm for a player who regularly averages over 100 yards per contest. Jones owned top CBs, such as Patrick Peterson, all season long in 2014, and if his targets to get boosted just a tad more, then he will be in the driver’s seat to lead the league in receiving yards.

Jones will take his playmaking abilities to MetLife Stadium this Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET to take on the New York Giants, and while Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Prince Amukamara are great corners, neither of them will be able to handle Jones mano-a-mano. Safety help will be needed, and let’s just say that it won’t be helpful enough to stop Jones.

Next: Can Jones Win The Offensive Player of the Year?

More from NFL Spin Zone

Home/Atlanta Falcons