OCTOBER 21: To little surprise, Jones will make his Eagles debut on Sunday. The team announced he (along with cornerback Mekhi Garner) is a game day elevation for Week 7. Jones will thus revert back to the taxi squad after the contest, allowing two more game day call-ups before a signing on the active roster will be required. It will be interesting to see how large of a role he plays within an already capable Eagles offense during Sunday’s primetime matchup against the Dolphins.
OCTOBER 17: Already rostering one of the NFL’s top wide receiver tandems, the Eagles will add an All-Decade player to the mix. The team agreed to a deal with Julio Jones on Tuesday.
Jones, who has not played since his Buccaneers one-off in 2022, signed a one-year contract with the Eagles, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. This will be Jones’ age-34 season. Jones will reunite with ex-Titans teammate A.J. Brown and former Falcons sidekick Olamide Zaccheaus.
This is a practice squad deal, per NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport. Since the league expanded P-squads to 16 players in 2020, teams have used the increased flexibility to stash veterans and provide ramp-up periods. The Eagles did this recently with Bradley Roby, who joined the team on a P-squad agreement before moving up to the 53-man roster days later. Jones should be expected to be on Philly’s active roster soon, with CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones indicating a real chance exists this transaction will happen before Week 7.
The Eagles are adding Jones not long after placing their No. 3 wideout, Quez Watkins, on IR. Watkins has missed three games this season and landed on IR ahead of Week 6 because of a hamstring ailment. The 5-1 team brought in Marquez Callaway and Dezmon Patmon for workouts Monday, Schefter adds, but will go with one of this era’s best receiving options. Jones is obviously well into his post-prime period by this point, but the 6-foot-3 target supplies tremendous experience — both as a lead target on a Super Bowl team and a supporting-caster on playoff-bound squads.
Philly has shown a willingness to bring in accomplished veterans near the end of their careers, doing so in 2022, when they aided their run defense by signing defensive tackles Ndamukong Suh and Linval Joseph midway through last season. Both vets stayed on the team through Super Bowl LVII. Jones, who played in Super Bowl LI with the Falcons, will sign on to chase a ring in what could very well be his final season.
Jones authored the most statistically productive five-year run by a pass catcher in NFL history, totaling 7,994 receiving yards from 2014-18. That stretch produced two first-team All-Pro nods, and Jones ripped off three second-team All-Pro seasons during his lengthy peak, one that effectively concluded with the 2019 season. That 15-game Atlanta slate represents a line of demarcation of sorts for Jones, who saw injury trouble wrap his prime during the 2020 slate. He has missed 21 games due to injury over the past three years.
The initial months of the Terry Fontenot–Arthur Smith Falcons partnership led to a Jones trade to the Titans. Brown had pushed for the Titans to acquire Jones in 2021, and while the duo played together for a team that booked home-field advantage in the AFC playoffs, both missed time due to injuries. The hamstring trouble that slowed Jones in 2020 followed him to Tennessee. He finished the ’21 season with 34 catches for 434 yards and one touchdown. Signing with the Buccaneers last year, Jones worked as an auxiliary target alongside Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. The 12-year veteran tallied 24 catches for 299 yards and two scores for a Bucs team that cratered offensively, though a porous NFC South kept the Tom Brady-fronted team afloat en route to a playoff berth. Jones missed games but did not land on IR during his Tampa stay.
Returning this year will delay Jones’ Hall of Fame induction, though given the waits receivers regularly endure en route to Canton, the former No. 6 overall pick may not be a lock for first-ballot enshrinement. Nevertheless, the surefire Hall of Famer will join an Eagles team that endured an ugly loss to the Jets. Brown and DeVonta Smith are coming off a 1,000-1,000 season, and Zaccheaus finished with 533 yards for the 2022 Falcons. Though, the diminutive Philly native has just 74 yards this year. Watkins cannot return until Week 12, leaving a bit of a void behind Brown and Smith. Howie Roseman will see if Jones can help fill it for the Super Bowl-contending squad.
