Larry Fitzgerald: Atlanta Falcons WR Julio Jones is great, but Kyle Shanahan is helping him succeed

Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones gets a lot of effusive praise. In fact, if you happen to find someone that will say something negative about Julio, I salute you, because you will have literally done the impossible. What's remarkable is the frequent praise heaped upon him by opposing players and coaches. If he's not the most well-respected skill player in the NFL today, then he's definitely the second or third.

Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald did a conference call with the Atlanta media this week. He had nothing but nice things to say about Julio. But check out what he said specifically, because it's really telling. (Credit to Andrew Hirsh and The Mothership for the quote.)

There are so many personnel groupings. They're going to move him around; they're going to put him in motion. So, it's very difficult for you to game plan to stop him because he's never in the same place. They move him around [... a]side from his freakishly unbelievable, God-given ability, in terms of running and quickness, he's very intelligent to be able to digest everything that coach has him doing in terms of the formations and where he's aligned.

Julio is great because he's quick, athletic, and smart. But Fitzgerald is giving offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan some credit too. He's commending Shanahan for the way he uses Julio and gets the most out of him. If you spent any time around this site during the off-season, I'd bet comments like these from a player like Fitzgerald were not on your radar.

Your thoughts?