Eagles Sign Future Hall Of Famer To Bolster WR Depth

The Eagles added a future Hall of Famer to their receiving staff on Tuesday, signing seven-time Pro Bowler Julio Jones.

Now 34 years old, Jones is no longer the great receiver he once was, but he should bolster the Eagles’ receiver depth for the remainder of the 2023 season. But Jones will likely need an adjustment period, which is why he will be added to the Eagles’ practice squad initially, a league source said. The Eagles also did this earlier this season with veteran CB Bradley Roby.

Jones will join a receiver room that already includes AJ Brown, DeVonta Smith and Olamide Zaccheaus. The Eagles’ third wideout, Quez Watkins, is on injured reserve with a lingering hamstring injury.

While Jones did not play for a team in the 2023 season, he played ten games with five starts for the Buccaneers in 2022. In those ten games, he had 24 catches on 43 targets for 299 yards and two touchdowns.

Jones’ last big season came with the Falcons in 2019, when he caught 99 passes for nearly 1,400 yards. In his career, Jones has 903 catches for 13,629 yards and 63 touchdowns. Now that he’s back in the league, Jones will once again become the NFL’s active leader in receptions and receiving yards.

He ranks 16th in NFL history in receiving yards and is 23rd all-time in receiving yards. This will be Jones’ 13th NFL season. The Falcons selected Jones 6th overall in the 2011 draft.

Jones was teammates with Brown at Tennessee and Zaccheaus in Atlanta.

Last season in Tampa, Jones played 108 of his 392 offensive snaps (27.6%) in the slot. The Eagles have to do without Watkins, but can combine their receivers in the slot. This season, Smith has played 97 snaps (22 percent) in the slot and Brown has played 86 snaps (20.8 percent) in the slot. At times this season, the Eagles have struggled to get some of their top targets into the game, but Jones should help.

The Eagles’ passing offense will continue to run through Brown, Smith and Dallas Goedert, but the addition of a player of Jones’ caliber – even at 34 – should add another dimension to the NFL’s second-best offense.