Let’s talk about Julio Jones

Last week Paul Kuharsky decided it was time to put the Julio trade on blast. It turned into this whole thing with Paul and the fanbase. Now, to be fair to PK, he wasn’t wrong. Jones had done next to nothing in the first 16 games of the season. He was active for nice of those games and didn’t have a touchdown catch.

Then something happened; Julio showed up on Sunday. Now, we shouldn’t get crazy praising his 9/58/1 line from Sunday in Houston. That’s not exactly what got him on his path to Canton, but what we did see was Julio as a part of the offense. He showed that he can still be productive. Just watch this:

As the No. 1 seed in the AFC, the Tennessee Titans have a bye this weekend as they await to see who they play in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs. Once the matchup is set, Julio is probably going to draw a lot of single coverage going forward. A.J. Brown is the bigger receiving threat at this point. If Ryan Tannehill and Julio can continue to show some rhythm like they did on Sunday it is going to open up a lot of other things from the offense. Just look at Sunday when Anthony Firkser emerged from the dead for 4/56/1.

To Julio’s credit, he has said all the right things about his role. He did seem pretty excited to get out there and make some plays on Sunday (quote via Jim Wyatt):

“It felt good to get out there and start hitting some shots, and making some plays for the offense,” Jones said after his five-catch, 58-yard contest that included his first touchdown as a Titan. “It was good. It’s been a process for me, going back and forth playing, not playing.”

“The guys just supported me through the whole time, and they came out there and they celebrated (after the three-yard touchdown catch), and we shared that moment. It was just cool to have your brothers out there. We play one play at a time for one another.”

I said on Twitter that the Julio trade will be judged when the season is over. If he does nothing in the divisional round and the Titans lose to whoever they end up facing, you can absolutely call the trade a bust, HOWEVA, if he is a productive member of the offense and the Titans go on a deep postseason run, the trade will have been a success. You just can’t judge it now.

Oh yeah, and Derrick Henry is coming back.