now i’m not trying to say that watkins will be as good as jones. but i thought it’d interesting to compare the two because jones had faced some injury woes at the beginning of his career before he really got going.
julio jones’ first three seasons
2011 – 13 games 54 rec 959 yards 8 tds 6 ru 56 yards
2012 – 16 games 79 rec 1198 yards 10 tds 6 ru 30 yards
2013 – 5 games 41 rec 580 yards 2 tds 1 ru 7 yards
total – 34 games 174 rec 2737 yards 20 tds 13 ru 93 yards
sammy watkins
2014 – 16 games 65 rec 982 yards 6 tds 2 ru 8 yards
2015 – 13 games 60 rec 1047 yards 9 tds 1 ry 1 yard
2016 – 8 games 28 rec 430 yards 2 tds
total – 37 games 153 rec 2459 yards 17 tds 3 ru 9 yards
in the three seasons since, jones has been dominant. and let me also say he’s had stability which watkins has not enjoyed his first three seasons. jones has had matt ryan, who’s been anywhere from good to great, as his qb his entire career. watkins also played in a very run-heavy offense for most of his career.
again. this is not to say that he can reach jones’ level. it’s just to say that his career trajectory is not set in stone. he’s young with potential. the second half of his 2015 season was dominant. like dominant. and then the next season he had the foot injury. much like jones missed significant time his third season with a similar foot injury.