What Buccaneers can expect from Julio Jones this season

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers actually pulled the trigger and brought Julio Jones to town. Here’s what the Buccaneers can expect from the future Hall of Famer.

Just as NFL teams have begun reporting for training camp, and the excitement for the upcoming season has reached a fever pitch for from sea to shining sea, once again Jason Licht and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers dropped a nuke on the festivities that has everybody talking. Tom Brady has gotten himself a new toy, as Julio Jones has signed with the Buccaneers.

Naturally, the news of Brady getting another future Hall of Fame talent to throw two has people crying  either tears of joy or despair depending on your opinion of the GOAT. The Bucs wide receiver room is already being called arguably the most talent in the league, if not one of the most we’ve ever seen. However, now that the initial excitement is starting to cool off a little bit and training camp is said to begin, let’s look at this rationally.

Apologies, but any chance this writer has to flex for the soft-spoken Mike Evans will be taken advantage of.

Anyway, at this stage of his career, Jones is a 33-year-old wide receiver that is now in danger of being labeled “injury prone” with his best years behind him. He’s clearly signing with the Buccaneers to chase the ring and put a cap on his career legacy before riding off into the sunset, not that there’s anything wrong with that. That said, we need to temper our expectations.

Yes, the pass-happy offense the Bucs run with Brady throwing the ball is an upgrade to the run-heavy approach the Tennessee Titans take with Ryan Tannehill, even with reports of the Buccaneers wanting to run the ball more this season. You can even say that Brady at 45 will be an upgrade to prime Matt Ryan. However, the quarterback change may improve the quality of the targets, but it doesn’t mean an improved  quality of an ankle or any other potential ailments. The fact of the matter is Jones hasn’t played a full season since 2018, and since then has played in 15, nine and ten games respectively, with his production progressively dipping a bit. Of course, the TB12 method appears to be something out of a fairytale that can heal all, but let’s wait and see how that plays out.

We also need to look at the makeup of the wide receiver room. Mike Evans is clearly the alpha, Chris Godwin is the target-hound in the slot, who looks to be on the fast-track to a return if reports are to be believed, and then there’s also Russell Gage. Yes, Jones and Gage played together in Atlanta, but that was now many moons ago. Jones will almost definitely eat into everyone’s targets, especially Gage, but the fact that the Bucs threw about 30 million bucks Gage’s way it’s not insignificant.

The Jones signing is merely for depth due to the uncertainty in the depth chart after Gage. He will also serve as a mentor for whichever young receivers make the final roster whether it be Scotty Miller, Cyril Grayson, Tyler Johnson, and/or Jaelon Darden. Heck, maybe he can even help Ko Kieft improve as a pass-catcher. A man can dream. With the Bucs reportedly wanting to run the ball more, Jones is an improvement here as well due to his history as a strong blocker for a wide receiver.

The x-factor in all this though is Brady. If anyone is able to feed all the hungry mouths of an offense, it’s Brady. He’s been doing it his entire career, which is one of the letting any of reasons why he is the greatest to ever do it.

Julio Jones will still be able to produce. Both he and the Buccaneers will see an improvement in quality of play as a result of the signing. However, anyone who thinks the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be getting prime Julio Jones needs to pump the brakes a bit, because that is just a little bit crazy. Just a little bit.