Julio Jones is fresh off of a dominant outing against the San Francisco 49ers, during which he caught the game-winning touchdown, and was recently named to his sixth-consecutive Pro Bowl.
The NFL's leading receiver in 2018, Jones has more receiving yards than any other player in franchise history and has long been regarded as one of the best players at his position. Perhaps nobody knows more about Jones' ability than Matt Ryan, the man throwing him the football throughout his career.
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Ryan has been incredibly successful throughout his career as well, winning the NFL's MVP Award in 2016 and recently moving into the league's top 10 in career passing yards for a quarterback. He knows a thing or two about what it takes to make it in this league, and he believes Jones isn't just a great receiver, he's one of the greatest ever.
Joining the “Stick to Football” podcast, Ryan shared his view that Jones should be included among the wide receivers on the NFL’s All-Time Team, created to commemorate the top players in the league's 100-year history.
"He's certainly deserving to be in there," Ryan said. "I think ultimately, at the end of the day whenever his career is done, he'll go down as one of the greatest of all time to do it at his position, there's no question about that. He's going to be in a gold jacket. He's going to have his bust up there in Canton. Maybe it was just a little too soon for this list to come out, but he's definitely deserving of it and one of the great players of our generation."
Some of the receivers from the past couple of decades included on the list are Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Marvin Harrison and Terrell Owens. Jones, who has 11,881 career receiving yards, recently surpassed Johnson's total of 11,619 and is just 23 yards shy of matching Michael Irvin's career output. Irvin is also included on the list.
Jones has 1,150 receiving yards this season, fifth-most in the NFL, and has caught six touchdown passes, two of which have won a game for the Falcons in the final seconds.
