Julio Jones left the very first practice of training camp with what Falcons coach Dan Quinn called a "tweak" to an unspecified body part. Jones did not practice Friday, either , after Quinn had said he likely would. But Quinn insists that the injury is a "small tweak" and a "one-off thing" and said Jones would "likely be back in the next day or so."
"He’s fit," Quinn said. "He’s strong. It was my decision, and I wanted to hold him back."
Hmmm ...
Listen, I have no reason to doubt that all of that is true (beyond my reporter's paranoia developed from years of teams obfuscating bad news). Quinn probably just is being cautious with Jones. It's likely he's being coy about the exact nature of the injury because he doesn't have to be forthcoming in training camp. NFL teams are paranoid, too.
Still, I also believe it’s worrisome that Quinn’s best player couldn’t make it through one practice without a “tweak” to some part of his body. A lot has to go right for the Falcons to have a good season, but nothing else matters if Jones can’t stay healthy.
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Pro Football Focus rates Jones as the ninth-best player in the NFL, an "athletic-freak receiver" who "can physically impose himself on defensive backs like few other players in the game." PFF rates Pittsburgh's Antonio Brown higher, but there is no other wide receiver in the league with Jones' size/speed/quickness combination. No other Falcons player made PFF's top 60.
I’m assuming the “tweak” happened in one of Jones’ hamstrings. He caught passes before Friday’s practice, and I doubt he’d do that if he had an issue with his knee or ankle. A tweaked hamstring is not a good thing for a 220-pound player who depends so much on his explosiveness.
Then again, a tweaked hamstring didn’t seem to slow Jones much last season. He experienced hamstring soreness after the season opener against the Eagles and was listed on the injury report with hamstring/toe ailments early in the season. But Jones never missed a game and ended up having his first All-Pro season.
Maybe that's what happens again this year. Or maybe the injury keeps Jones out of the entire preseason, like it did in 2013. He lasted five games that season before re-fracturing a bone in his right foot and undergoing surgery .
Jones has missed just one game since then, Week 14 of the 2014 season because of a groin injury. No one questions his toughness. But this mysterious “tweak,” minor as it may be, is the only thing that matters right now in Falcons camp.
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