The Titans are getting healthier as they come off their bye, with receiver Julio Jones getting designated to return from injured reserve earlier this week.
Jones has dealt with a hamstring issue for the better part of the season, and hasn’t necessarily made the expected impact since coming over from Atlanta via trade during the offseason. Jones has reached 100 yards receiving in a game just once this season — back in Tennessee’s Week Two victory over Seattle. He had six receptions for 129 yards that day.
Otherwise, he hasn’t even reached 60 yards in his five other appearances.
Still, with running back Derrick Henry and receiver A.J. Brown out due to injury, Jones’ return could have a significant positive impact on the offense.
“Yeah, excited to get Julio back,” quarterback Ryan Tannehill said Wednesday, via Jim Wyatt of the Titans’ website. “We’ll have to build on things we’ve done in the past. Like you mentioned, it’s been a little while since we’ve thrown and caught together. So these practice reps will be huge. We got some reps on Monday, which was nice. Excited to see him back out there making plays and looking good running.”
Tannehill mentioned that he and Jones have experienced “spurts” of chemistry in their first year working together. But Jones’ injuries haven’t aided that process.
“I think that it’s been a frustrating year for him, just kind of the up and down of being injured,” Tannehill said, via Ben Arthur of the Tennessean. “I don’t want to speak for him, I’ll let him answer that question, but I can imagine if I was in that position, it’d be quite frustrating. So hoping to keep him healthy as the season goes on and build that consistency the more time we get together.”
In six games, Jones has 21 receptions for 336 yards in 2021. But if he gets hot, the Titans will be even tougher to beat down the stretch.