The Philadelphia Eagles are elevating wide receiver Julio Jones from the practice squad for their Sunday Night Football matchup with the Miami Dolphins, the team announced Saturday.
The Eagles had signed Jones on Tuesday, with the expectation being that the veteran wide receiver would start out on the practice squad, with a promotion to an active roster spot once he got his feet wet, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported at the time.
Head coach Nick Sirianni had said this week that Jones "looked good" during practice but still advised that he and his team wanted to be smart about when they elevated the wideout, understanding that it could be better to ease him into things considering the new offense he has to learn and him not playing yet this year.
"Julio, you're going to be tempted to want to put him in because he's a phenomenal player that's done a lot in this league. We are going to have to make sure that we're not putting him in danger," Sirianni said Friday, via the team transcript. "Doing what we need to do to help us win the game and doing what he needs to do to help us win the game, and also being smart with his rep count just because of elevated risk of injury if you put him in for too much."
Evidently, Sirianni liked what he saw from Jones enough to take the plunge, and the 34-year-old is now set to be available as a target for Jalen Hurts on Sunday night, officially marking the start of his 13th season in the league.
With Quez Watkins currently on injured reserve with a hamstring injury, there are available touches for Jones coming in, especially if he can perform anything like how he looked earlier in his career.
Jones played the majority of his first dozen NFL seasons with the Falcons, collecting seven Pro Bowl nods over a decade in Atlanta and leading the league in receiving yards twice. As of now, Jones sits at No. 16 in career receiving yards, having amassed 13,629 yards in his time as a pro. He needs just 148 more yards to move up the list.
Injuries started to get in the way in recent seasons, and over his last three years, Jones has appeared in just 29 games. He was traded to the Titans in 2021 and then spent 2022 catching passes from Tom Brady in the QB's final season in Tampa Bay. Jones remained unsigned in 2023 until this week, and will now have a chance to chase his first Lombardi with the Eagles, starting with a Philly debut in prime time.
The Dolphins and Eagles kick off at 8:20 p.m. ET on Sunday night.
