For the second time in three weeks, the Atlanta Falcons will be going up against their divisional rival New Orleans Saints, but this time WR Julio Jones is uncertain to suit up. Jones originally injured his hamstring the last time these two teams met up and has been out of lineups for fantasy football managers since. With only a few days left until Week 13 kicks off on Sunday, and with the final spots in playoffs on the line, the difference of whether or not Julio Jones will play due to injury could be enough to send teams home packing.
Latest injury report
Sunday, December 6: Julio Jones is active for the Atlanta Falcons Week 13 matchup against the New Orleans Saints.
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Julio Jones missed practice on Thursday, putting Week 13 in doubt
Falcons WR Julio Jones was a limited participant on Wednesday, and originally, the team seemed to be optimistic about his potential return. However, on Thursday, those feelings were shot down with the release of the team’s second injury report. Jones was downgraded to a non-participant on Thursday, according to Atlanta Falcons reporter William McFadden. It is unsure if he had a setback or a combination of rest and the team using an abundance of caution with their 31-year-old receiver.
Jones has missed the team’s last game against the Las Vegas Raiders and the majority of their Week 11 matchup against the Saints. He hauled in his only target for a 17-yard catch before limping off with a tight hamstring in the first quarter. He tried to come back in, but instead, walked off into the team’s medical tent and didn’t return until the fourth quarter, where he was quickly removed.
This is not Jones’ first injury of the season
Unfortunately for Jones and anyone who drafted him, 2020 has been far more up and down than expected. Julio Jones missed two weeks earlier with the same issue and struggled with it out of the gates. He entered the season nursing a hamstring injury but managed to get through Week 1 looking like vintage Julio Jones, catching nine passes on 12 targets for 157 yards and failing to score. Literally the most Julio Jones box score imaginable.
He managed to play in Week 2 but clearly had limitations. Jones was forced to miss their Week 3 game and had never completed a full week of practice.
Related | Week 13 WR Rankings: Sleepers, must starts, busts
After a week off, Jones was able to return and face the Bears on Monday Night Football but only played the first half and was forced to miss Week 5. Overall, the first five weeks were rough; Jones played in just three injury-filled games where he saw 20 targets, catching 15 passes for 213 yards and no touchdowns.
When not dealing with an injury, Julio Jones has shown his vintage elite abilities
After he was able to shake off the hamstring injury that plagued his start of the season, Julio Jones looked like the person fantasy managers were selecting in the second round back in August. From Week 6 to Week 9, Julio caught 28 of his 36 targets for 425 yards and added three touchdowns to his season totals. His 88.5 PPR points were enough for a WR2 ranking during this stretch, only behind Green Bay Packers Davante Adams and his ridiculous 30.1 PPR points per game.
Unfortunately, in Week 11 against the Saints, Julio re-injured his hamstring after seeing just two targets that he turned into 39 yards. His absence in Week 12 would only be the third time in his 10-year career that Jones had missed three or more games. You have to go back to 2013 when Jones suffered a pedal foot fracture in Week 5 against the Jets and didn’t play another game until the second week of the 2014 preseason.
He came into 2020 as one of the most well-respected receivers in the NFL, having caught 797 of his 1,252 targets for a staggering 12,125 yards and 57 touchdowns. Over his first nine seasons, Jones averaged 1,347 yards and 88 catches per year.
If Julio Jones’ injury keeps him out, Calvin Ridley is a must-start for fantasy
Given that the Falcons are 4-7 on the season with some tough games down the stretch, there’s probably no urgency to rush Julio back. Interim head coach Raheem Morris has had the Falcons playing well since replacing Dan Quinn in Week 6. The Falcons are not going to make the playoffs, and much to the disappointment of fantasy managers, a healthy Julio Jones for 2021 is more important than your playoffs.
Although, before you panic, the Falcons are notorious for giving veterans a late-week rest, so it doesn’t necessarily mean he will be inactive this weekend. Friday’s injury report will be massive in giving us a clearer picture of the situation and if this was a potential injury setback or a rest day for Julio Jones.
The downside is that the Saints are not a great defense to match up against, especially not at 100%. Likely, he would also face off against CB Marcus Lattimore. Lattimore has allowed 15-of-27 passing for 157 yards over his last five games, though two were for touchdowns. If he plays in Week 13, I can’t advocate benching Julio Jones in fantasy. However, one wrong step can cause his injury to flair up and leave you with another two catch day.
If Jones is not fully healthy, who will be able to capitalize?
The best play on the Atlanta Falcons this week is Calvin Ridley, who is more of a 1A-1B than a true WR2 on the team. The third-year receiver has fully blossomed into the player we expected he could be in 2020.
Ridley has played nine full games this year and has finished with 14 or more PPR points in eight of them. This gives him a WR2 floor seemingly every week, while we’ve also seen him post 17+ PPR points in six games.
Between Marshon Lattimore and Janoris Jenkins, Ridley will have his work cut out for himself on Sunday, but if the Week 11 game is anything to go off of, he should be just fine. Two weeks ago, when these two teams met, Ridley caught five of his nine targets for 90 yards against Jenkins due to Lattimore being out for the game.
If Julio Jones is playing, Calvin Ridley is a high-end WR2 with a stable floor. However, he gets a slight boost into the WR1 category despite the difficult matchup if it is him as the team’s top option. This is especially the case because the Falcons will likely be playing from behind, even against a Taysom Hill-led Saints’ offense.
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Tommy Garrett is a writer for PFN covering Fantasy Football. You can read more of his work here and follow him at @TommygarrettPFN on Twitter.