Every NFL franchise's greatest wide receiver ever

Atlanta Falcons
Julio Jones

The Atlanta Falcons have had some fun wide receivers in its time. Roddy White was a really good player for a really long time. Terance Mathis had a run that made him a fan favorite for a time. However, nobody comes even close to Julio Jones. The Falcons went all in to draft Jones in 2011. They sent the 27th-overall pick, another first-round pick, a second and two fourth-round picks to move up to sixth overall to select Jones. It felt like a lot of draft capital at the time, but it became one of the best draft-day trades ever. 

Jones would spend 10 years with the Falcons and would lead the league in receiving yards per game three times. He broke 100 yards per game five times and had 1,000 yards receiving in a season seven times. His best season came in 2015 when he caught 136 balls for north of 1,800 yards. He was accountable for 93 first downs that season, which shows the impact he had on the Falcons offense. 

We can’t talk about impact without talking about Jones’ impact on the career of Matt Ryan. Ryan would not have nearly the career he had without having Jones as a partner. Ryan knew that no matter what he did, Jones could elevate any singular play. He was double- and triple-teamed, but his mixture of speed and strength allowed him to get behind defenses and make a big play.

Jones is a no-doubt Hall of Famer. If he plays one more season, he has a pretty easy shot at getting to top-ten all-time in receiving. Even with his injury history, he was able to put up insane stats. Then there was his Super Bowl performance. We only talk about the comeback today, but if the Falcons won (which was a failure of coaching, not of Jones), all we’d talk about is THE catch. With the Falcons up eight and four minutes left in the game, he caught the ball on his fingertips what looked like 10 feet in the air and already out of bounds. While sideways, he got both feet in bounds and got his team the first down.