Top 20 NFL Players!: #18
Top 20 NFL Players!: #18
Previous: 20. Jalen Ramsey, 19. Quenton Nelson
18. Julio Jones
Height and Weight: 6’3”, 220 lbs
Position: WR
Team: Atlanta Falcons
College: Alabama
Coming in at number 18 and the first receiver introduced in our Top 20 is Pro Bowl wide receiver Julio Jones from the Atlanta Falcons. A receiving yard machine, Julio has had over 1,400 receiving yards in 5 straight seasons and in two of those seasons he led the league in this category (2015, 2018). In 2018, Matt Ryan’s top target had 113 receptions for 1,677 yards and 8 touchdowns. In some people’s eyes, Julio Jones is regarded as the top receiver in the NFL. What keeps him off the top spot in my eyes is his lack of consistency and his inefficient red zone play. In 2018, Jones had 6 games where he was held under 100 yards and only scored 2 touchdowns in those games, which has been the track record for the last few years of his career; a talented receiver who struggles to find the endzone. On the flipside, Julio did turn on the jets in the second half of the season in the scoring department scoring 7 touchdowns from Week 9-16.
Julio can be argued to be a candidate to be enshrined in Canton when his career is over. Although he struggled to stay on the field early in his career, Julio has been very durable since his injury-shortened 2013 season, playing in 14 or more games in every season since them (16 of 16 in 3 of the 5 seasons). Jones accolades include a 6x Pro Bowler, 2x All-Pro, over 10,000 yards for his career, 698 receptions, and 51 touchdowns. That’s a pretty impressive resume to me going into his age of 30.
In 2019, Julio and the Falcons are going to look to shake off their lost 2018 season, which was plagued with injuries, underachieving players, and a tough schedule which included the Saints twice, Cowboys, Browns, Ravens, Steelers, and Eagles. What got Julio into the number 18 slot is the ability to come up big in the clutch and make game-changing catches that continue to make fans jaws drop every day. Can Julio carry the Falcons into the playoffs next season or will 2019 be just as disappointing as 2018?
-By: Richie Dordas