By the Numbers: New Titans WR Julio Jones

The Tennessee Titans sent shockwaves around the NFL by trading for future Hall of Fame WR Julio Jones on Sunday.

The Titans lost several pass catchers this offseason including Corey Davis, Jonnu Smith and Adam Humphries. Prior to the Jones trade, the team didn’t make any substantial moves to replace those players. They drafted Dez Fitzpatrick in the fourth round and signed former Rams WR Josh Reynolds to a one-year deal. The Jones trade changes everything.

The terms of the deal makes this trade incredibly worth it for the Titans, who gave up a 2022 second-round pick. The deal also involves a swap of Day 3 picks in 2023. In my opinion, getting this deal done without giving up a first round pick makes it a home run for the Titans given the fact that they’re in “win now” mode.

Oh, did I mention that A.J. Brown is fired up? You love to see it.

Let’s take a deeper look into how PFF graded Jones throughout the 2020 season (nine games played).

Targets: 65

Receptions: 51

Receiving yards: 771

Receiving touchdowns: 3

Drops: 3

Yards per reception: 15.1

* WR with at least 20% of league-highest volume are ranked.

Overall grade: 86.3

Receiver grade: 84.9

Those are some impressive numbers given the fact that Jones was hampered by a hamstring injury throughout the season. The biggest winners here are new offensive coordinator Tood Downing and starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill.

Brown and Jones will have every chance to form the best one-two punch at the receiver position in the NFL. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin are excellent in Tampa Bay, but Tennessee’s duo could be better. It’s also startling to see the similarities between Jones and Brown when you match up the early part of their careers.

If you complained about the direction of the offense, and you probably did, you should be beyond excited about this addition.