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Over the long haul, it's fair to assume that Julio Jones will someday own every franchise receiving record for the Atlanta Falcons. If he stays healthy, he's simply too gifted and too important to this team's offense not to.
There is, however, reason to doubt that Julio will exceed the heights he established just a year ago. I've gotten a fair number of questions about whether Julio might break the NFL's single season record for receiving yardage, and while it's a legitimate question given his talent, I don't think it'll happen. Here's a few factors:
- The addition of Mohamed Sanu, who will steal targets from Julio (even if it's just a handful of targets) that Roddy White, Justin Hardy, and Nick Williams couldn't a year ago;
- Hardy, who is showing early improvement and a better rapport with Matt Ryan, should see his targets increase;
- The Falcons may well run a little more, given that they have two young, intriguing backs who complement one another quite well;
- Austin Hooper's long locks figure to make him a red zone option.
Julio was targeted 203 times last year, nearly a full third of Matt Ryan's passing attempts, which is both an insane ratio and the highest total in franchise history by a full 20 targets. Expecting that to happen again in a year where the team has made a conscious effort to give Ryan more options, plus expected improvement in the ground game, is probably a poor expectation.
You should fully expect Julio Jones to reel in at least 110 passes for well over 1,000 yards, and he could certainly improve on his total of eight touchdowns this year. Just don't expect him to be setting too many crazy records this year, Falcons or otherwise.