Two current Atlanta Falcons have already cracked Pro Football Focus’ All-Decade 101 Team in the form of quarterback Matt Ryan (No. 32) and center Alex Mack (No. 44), and now Julio Jones joins them, coming in as PFF’s eighth-best player of the 2010s.
No. 8 on the #PFFAllDecade101@juliojones_11 pic.twitter.com/uUvwsefAcs
— PFF (@PFF) May 14, 2020
He’s the outlet’s highest ranked wide receiver, besting Antonio Brown (No. 13), Deandre Hopkins (No. 30). and Michael Thomas (unranked).
Even at eighth on PFF’s All-Decade Team, you can still make a solid argument that Julio Jones deserves to be higher on this list. Since entering the league in 2011, Jones has amassed 12,125 receiving yards, the fastest receiver to reach the 12,000 yard mark in NFL history.
2019 ended his six-season streak with at least 1,400-plus yards receiving, a number that he missed by a mere six yards in the final game of the year against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Julio has been one of Matt Ryan’s most reliable targets over the course of the decade, tallying more than 83 receptions in every season since 2016 — a number that ties the league record, and yet another record that he appears poised to break.
He seems to break them with regularity these days. He’s just been otherworldly at the position since he entered the league in 2011.
In 2019, Julio Jones eclipsed Roddy White’s career mark of 10,863 yards to become the Atlanta Falcons’ franchise leader in receiving yards, a feat he accomplished in nine seasons in the league, compared to White’s 11.
So while we can debate where Julio could have or should have landed on this list, he certainly merits inclusion as its top wide receiver.