Former All Pro WR Julio Jones Signs With The Philadelphia Eagles

This is not one we saw coming. The Eagles have made a pretty shocking move. They are signing former All-Pro WR Julio Jones. The move was first reported by Adam Schefter.

At one point in Jones' career, he had 6 straight seasons with at least 1,300 yards. And one season he even peaked at 1871 yards. He is not that same guy anymore, but he did have 733 yards over 20 games in the last two seasons. And he is not coming here to be a star, he is coming here to be the 3rd WR behind AJ Brown and Devonta Smith.

It is not the first time he shared the field with AJ Brown. The Titans traded for Jones before the 2021 season, under the recommendation of AJ himself. He would catch 31 passes for 434 yards and a TD over 10 games with the Titans. He spent last season with the Buccaneers and was obviously a free agent to this point in 2023.

The Eagles were light on receivers with Quez Watkins going onto the IR. Brown, Smith, and Olamide Zaccheaus were the only other WRs with catches on the roster. Britian Covey is the 4th WR but is solely a Return Man.

We will see if Julio Jones can get up to speed to play this Sunday vs the Dolphins. But Jones brings another threat to the Eagle's already dangerous offense. Again, obviously, he is not the star he once was. But can he be better than Quez Watkins was? Probably. We saw Watkins fail to get a key first down on a screen where the blocking was perfectly set up. And Watkins had been plagued with a drop problem in the past two seasons. Even if he just gives you what he gave the Bucs last season, it is an upgrade over what they had been getting.

After several ugly wins, the Eagles finally got an ugly loss. And it was about as ugly as it gets. 4 turnovers, just 14 points, and lots of injuries. They are still 5-1, at the top of the NFC East, and tied at the top of the NFC. But a loss like that makes you rethink things, and there are no questions heading into week 7. Are the Eagles as good as we thought? Is Jalen Hurts regressing? Are they too injured to compete at the highest level?

Some of those are a bit of an overreaction. Yes, the offense was terrible against the Jets. But they are still 2nd in yards per game, and 7th in points per game. The offense had a few very good weeks in a row before the debacle in week 6. The loss of Lane Johnson took a heavy toll in that game, but it seems the ankle injury is not that serious. And the defense, despite almost the entire secondary and parts of the D-Line being hurt, actually played pretty well. They held the Jets under 300 yards and didn't allow a TD until the Jets started at the 8-yard line and they let Breece Hall score.

There are clearly things that need to be fixed. And maybe this team has more issues than they did last year. But last year was an anomaly with how many things went right for the Eagles. A stepback was to be expected, but they can still be Super Bowl winners even if they are not the same team.

But has the National media lost faith in them? Will one loss have the writers who aren't in Philly hitting the panic button? Let's find out what they think.

Health is absolutely the biggest concern for the Eagles. It seems like they avoided disaster with Lane Johnson. But the secondary is very banged up, and heading into a gauntlet with some dangerous offenses.

ESPN's Power Rankings

AJ Brown has been fantastic. I am a little concerned that there has yet to be a week where both he and Devonta Smith look great, but I feel like they can figure that out. Brown is 2nd in receiving yards now and is playing at an even higher level than he did last year.

The Athletic's Power Rankings

The first two interceptions I have a hard time blaming on Hurts. But yeah, that 3rd one is a brutal mistake. He cannot make that mistake there. It literally cost them the game. I thought he was playing somewhat well in the game before that. But a large amount of the blame for the loss falls on him now.

NFL Network's Power Rankings

Again, 2nd in yards per game, and 7th in points. The offense was awful this week, but if the Eagles offense hasn’t looked great, who besides the Dolphins have? Lots of teams have the same issue. Cowboys, Bills, and Niners all got shut down a bit the last two weeks too. The eagles offense needs to be better. But despite the flaws, they are still one of the best offenses in the league.

CBS Sports Power Rankings

It is Kelly Green Week. So we have that to look forward to. It will be a tough game though.  Dolphins is going to be a very interesting matchup. They are far and away the best offense in the league, but we have seen a couple of teams, including the Bills contain them. The Eagles badly need some of their secondary to get healthy before the game though.

USA Today’s Power Rankings

Yeah, they got away from the run too much. I get it was a banged-up secondary, and you thought you could take advantage. But this team went 14-3 last year mostly by building up leads and then running out the clock. And there was too much throwing and too many stopped clocks in the second half.

Yahoo Sports Power Rankings

I would argue the passing game found its groove in weeks 3 for 5, then lost it in week 6. Weird how they make excuses for other teams who have a bad week, but this somehow says something about the Eagles. In the 49ers part of the Power Rankings, they said the Browns did not figure out Purdy, but the runner-up MVP does not get the same amount of leash? Purdy gets the pass with no CMC, but Hurts had no Lane. It's just weird how there seems to be a double standard.

Pro Football Network’s Power Rankings

“Are they truly among the NFC’s elite this year?”

I don’t know Mike, you placed them at 5, with only two NFC teams above them. So it seems like you put them among the elite teams. I have complained about it before, but it amazes me that I put more effort into writing a Round Up of the Power Rankings than Mike Florio does into writing his Power Rankings.

Pro Football Talk’s Power Rankings