Will Julio Jones take the Titans to the Super Bowl?
Sunday morning the Atlanta Falcons officially traded all-pro wide receiver, Julio Jones to the Tennessee Titans for a second-round pick and a fourth-round pick. The trade came after weeks of speculation and negotiating. So now that the trade has been made official and Julio has made it to Nashville, let’s speculate some more and think about how well the addition of the future Hall of Famer will affect the team and their future.
Last season Julio played nine games for Atlanta, totalling 771 receiving yards on 51 catches, for an average of 15.1 yards per catch, as well as three touchdowns. This rather subpar stat line is due mainly to his health, as he was injured for a good part of the season. Not including 2020, Julio has had six straight 1000+ yard seasons, with half of those totalling more than 1,500 yards. In his ten year career, Jones has totalled nearly 13,000 receiving yards, 848 catches and 60 touchdowns. With all of that being said, if Julio can get back to his true form and forget 2020, he will truly be a godsend for a Titans team that has been struggling for another weapon on offense.
Now for our concern. If Julio isn’t able to get back to his true form and misses time due to injury, who will take over his assignment? The other top receivers that the Titans have included Josh Reynolds, Cameron Batson, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and rookies Dez Fitzpatrick and Racy McMath. Not to put these guys down, but none of them would be able to fill Jones’ spot, and the Titans receiving game will plummet the minute Julio comes off the field, god forbid anything happens to him.
So will the addition of Julio Jones take the Titans to the Super Bowl? Well to put it plainly, any fan that claims this move makes them Super Bowl contenders is stupid and ignorant. The Titans have many holes in their roster that need to be addressed. The team has no defense, no depth on offense, a questionable offensive line and no insurance policy if any of their top playmakers get hurt. The addition of Julio certainly helps, don’t get us wrong, but claiming your team is instant Super Bowl contenders is just not true. Let’s just take a quick look at the rest of the AFC “contenders”, the Browns, the Chiefs, the Bills, the Ravens and the Steelers all have a better shot than the Titans to make it to the big game in our opinion.