ProFootballFocus.com's analysis of each play of every game in the NFL is respected around the league, so when they release their season-ending lists of the best players in football, everyone reads it. The Falcons didn't have any players on the year's All-Pro list or All-Rookie team, but PFF's All-Sophomoreteam featured two second-year Falcons.
After the kind of season he had, it's no surprise that Julio Jones was one of the two receivers on the list. Great expectations surrounded Jones this season and he responded with a 79-catch, 1,198 yard and 10 touchdown season. In last week's NFC Championship game, Jones displayed his talents in front of the nation and had the best game of his career. He caught 11 passes for 182 yards and touchdowns, gaining over half of that in one half of football. His receiving yards are the most in Falcons franchise history for a playoff game and he tied Roddy White's playoff record of 11 catches.
The NFC Championship performance was Jones' first 100-yard game in the playoffs and he joined five other Falcons receivers that have turned out 100-yard receiving games in the playoffs.
Cincinnati's A.J. Green, also selected in the first round in 2011, joined Jones at wide receiver and PFF said they were very easy choices for the list.
"It was the top two guys taken in 2011 that produced the goods in a way that meant these choices were no-brainers," Khaled Elsayed wrote.
Joining Jones on the All-Sophomore team is a Falcon who hasn't yet started getting many accolades, but put together a solid season for the Falcons. Punter Matt Bosher, drafted in the sixth round, helped the Falcons finish ninth in the NFL in average yards per punt and only 26 of his 60 punts were returned. Bosher also serves as the team's kickoff specialist.
