Ladies and gentlemen, the Tennessee Titans have got him. The Julio Jones sweepstakes have already been won, as the Titans have secured the services of the future Hall of Famer wide receiver via a trade with the Atlanta Falcons — the only team Jones has ever played with so far in his NFL career. Barring any hitches, Jones will be a serious downfield threat beginning in the 2021 NFL season for the Titans, and that’s a scary thought for a lot of people — and teams.
The Titans have been to the playoffs in each of the past two seasons. They lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the conference championship round in 2019 and then were struck out of the wild card phase back in January 2021 by Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. Even with those failures to reach the grandest stage of football, the Titans have things going for them, and the addition of Jones is a huge shot in the arm of the team’s offense.
Julio Jones’s trade to the Titans is sending shockwaves across the rest of the NFL. A trade of this gravity will definitely have an impact on at least a few figures whose stocks are either directly or indirectly tied to this bombshell of a trade.
Julio Jones trade winners
Titans’ passing game
Tennessee finished the 2020 NFL regular season ranked fourth overall in scoring offense on the strength of Derrick Henry’s legs. At the time, the Titans’ passing attack was nowhere close to being an elite one, as it was only 23rd overall with just 224.2 passing yards per game. They were simply more inclined to hand the ball to Henry and have him break through a phalanx of defenders. Now, the Titans have a legitimate elite 1-2 combo downfield with AJ Brown and Julio Jones.
The arrival of Jones to Tennessee also comes just a few months after the Titans lost their top red-zone target in the form of tight end Jonnu Smith in free agency. In 2020, Smith led the Titans with 19 targets (12 completions) in the red zone. Julio Jones surely will absorb plenty of targets the Titans lost to Smith’s departure, while also opening things up for Brown and Henry.
Ryan Tannehill
Tannehill’s career in the NFL is among the most interesting in recent years. It was not that long ago when he was quarterbacking for a Miami Dolphins team that went 7-9 and featured a wide receiving corps that had Danny Amendola, Kenny Stills, and Albert Wilson.
Three years later, he did not just overtake Marcus Mariota’s job, and in the process, provided stability under center for Tennessee, he's also now staring at a downfield duo that quarterbacks would kill to have.
Derrick Henry
For pretty much most of his career going all the way back to whenever he started to play football, Henry has been an unstoppable force on the field. The Titans are blessed to have him on their team, but after back-to-back seasons for at least 303 carries, it might be a good time to scale back a bit on his touches out of the backfield. With Jones in Tennessee, expect Henry’s role to decline a bit, though he certainly would remain a very large part of the team’s offense.
But just because his touches are expected to regress, it doesn’t mean he’d be less efficient. In fact, he might average more touchdowns per touch with Julio Jones taking away so much attention from opposing defenses. In 2020, the Titans ranked third in rush play percentages and second in both rushing yards per play and rushing scores per game.
Julio Jones trade losers
AFC South defenses
Jones invading the AFC South is bad news indeed for defenses in that division. The Jacksonville Jaguars and the Houston Texans both recorded negative point differentials in 2021, and we’re not seeing any encouraging signs pointing to their stop units taking a big leap in 2021.
The Indianapolis Colts offer the most resistance against Tennessee, but they should be shaking right now. A couple of weeks in the 2020 NFL season after limiting the Titans to just 17 points, Henry and company blew the doors off on the Colts’ D in a 45-26 road win.
AJ Brown fantasy owners
You can make a case about how AJ Brown’s stock in fantasy would actually get a boost due to Julio Jones’ entry to the Titans’ roster. After all, Calvin Ridley’s production in 2020 was fantastic even with Jones on the field with him. Then again, that Atlanta Falcons team was directly on the opposite end of the Titans in the offense spectrum, as Matt Ryan and company were ninth in the league in pass play percentage.
The Falcons didn’t really have a great backfield, leaving Ryan to orchestrate a high-volume passing offense. For Brown, he will not just have to contend for touches with volume monster Derrick Henry, but also with Julio Jones, an expensive asset who should get plenty of looks.
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