Atlanta Falcons: Franchise should make an exception and retire number 11

A week ago, the Atlanta Falcons traded away Julio Jones to the Tennessee Titans for a second and fourth-round draft pick. Julio Jones is going to be a big loss for the Atlanta Falcons, but fans should look back at the awesome moments with Julio.

Julio Jones was with the Atlanta Falcons for ten seasons finishing with 12,896 receiving yards and 60 touchdowns. Julio finished three touchdowns short of Roddy White’s franchise record of 63 but leads the franchise in receiving yards.

The Atlanta Falcons should retire Julio Jones number when he is elected as a first-ballot Hall of Famer in Canton. Currently, the Atlanta Falcons only have four jersey numbers that are unavailable to be worn ever again – 10 (Steve Bartkowski), 31 (Williams Andrews), 57 (Jeff Van Note), and 60 (Tommy Nobis) – the Falcons no longer “retire” numbers.

Julio was the best of the best for the Atlanta Falcons

Over the last three decades, the Atlanta Falcons have always had a great wide receiver on the team including Terrance Mathis, Roddy White, Julio Jones, and soon to be Calvin Ridley.

Wide receivers have been a bright spot for the Atlanta Falcons, and they need to make Julio Jones number eleven the first retired jersey for a wide receiver in franchise history.

While Julio Jones has a lot of franchise accolades, he has plenty of NFL achievements as well. The two big stat lines for Julio Jones are him being the fastest receiver to hit 10,000 career receiving yards and him finishing second all-time receiving yards in a single season.

During the 2018 NFL season, Julio Jones was the fastest receiver to hit 10,000 receiving yards (calculated by the number of games played). Falcons have always struggled to get Julio’s touchdown numbers up but there is no denying he is one of the best all-time racking up receiving yards.

Many seem to forget but during the 2015 NFL season, Julio Jones finished second behind Calvin Johnson for the most receiving yards in a single season with 1,871 receiving yards. Calvin Johnson ended up having 1,964 yards during the 2012 season but Julio did beat Jerry Rice’s 1,848 seasons back in 1995.

Anytime a receiver beats one of Jerry Rice’s records is a huge accomplishment.

The Atlanta Falcons have should absolutely retire number eleven to honor Julio Jones one of the best ever to play wide receiver in the NFL.