Atlanta Falcons: Is Julio Jones Overrated as a Receiver?

Oh dear. One can only imagine the waves of hate Atlanta Falcons fans will send this direction for even contemplating such blasphemous title.

Well in for a penny, in for a pound as the old saying goes. First of all it’s important to make one thing clear. This article is not an attack on Jones. He is a very good receiver in the NFL. It’s meant to clarify whether he is actually one of the best in the league or if he should be ranked just outside that top tier. What brings about such a question?

One word:  touchdowns. As things stand Jones ranks 9th in the NFL for most receiving yards from an active receiver. He has 7,977, just 107 behind Demaryius Thomas. Jones also holds his top 10 ranking despite playing the fewest games at 84. Thomas has played 106. So Jones has been more explosive in terms of yardage on average, though to be fair Thomas spent the first years of his career with Kyle Orton and Tim Tebow under center. Jones has always had Matt Ryan.

TD issue is worth raising when discussing best in NFL

Truth be told the yards thing is great but the NFL is about touchdowns. Players who score should be more highly valued. When factoring this in, Jones ranks a mere 19th in the league with 40 touchdowns. Put in the context of how many games he’s played he’s averaging a score every 8.2 quarters. By contrast Odell Beckham Jr. who has played just 47 games to date has 38 touchdowns. That’s an average of a score every 4.9 quarters.

A.J. Green? He has 52 touchdowns in 91 games or one per 7.0 quarters. Dez Bryant has 70 touchdowns in 107 games, or one every 5.8 quarters. Yet those men are often ranked behind Jones during those best in the NFL rankings. This despite scoring more often and sometimes playing with worse quarterbacks.

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Again this is not to say Jones isn’t one of the better receivers in football. He is. It’s a contention that his pedestal may not belong at the top like many believe. At least until the Falcons can start getting the ball to him in the end zone more often.