Tannehill 'Fired Up' to Add Jones to Offense

The Tennessee Titans quarterback has never had such an accomplished wide receiver as a potential target.

Ryan Tannehill’s job got a little easier Sunday. At least that’s the way he sees it.

When the Tennessee Titans traded for wide receiver Julio Jones, it gave their quarterback another meaningful option in the passing game.

Without question, in fact, Jones is the most accomplished target Tannehill has had during his NFL career, which began in 2012 with the Miami Dolphins. He is a seven-time Pro Bowler, a two-time All-Pro, ranks among the top 20 all-time in receiving yards and has the second-best single-season receiving yards total in history (1,871 in 2015).

“I was fired up,” Tannehill said while appearing at Volunteers of America event. “I’m excited. How can you not be excited to play with a guy the caliber and talent Julio is and has been for his whole career? So, I’m excited to get to know him as a person and just welcome him to the team and get him acclimated to the way we do things.”

Tannehill became Tennessee’s starting quarterback in Week 7 of the 2019 season. Since then, he has helped A.J. Brown top 1,000 yards receiving in each of his first two seasons. He also nearly got Corey Davis to that mark in 2020 (Davis finished with 984 receiving yards), and he did so even as Derrick Henry has won the league’s last two rushing titles and established the Titans as a run-first team.

With Miami, he got two 1,000-yard seasons each from receivers Brian Hartline (2012-13) and Jarvis Landry (2015-16). Never in his time there, however, did that team finish among the top half of the league in passing offense.

With Atlanta, which drafted him sixth overall in 2011, Jones topped 1,000 yards receiving in six straight years beginning in 2014, and twice led the league in that category. Even last season, when he missed seven games due to injury, he finished with 771 receiving yards, which was more than the team leader of nine other franchises.

“A proven guy who’s been at the top of his game for I don’t know how many years now,” Tannehill said. “Just does an amazing job of getting open. His explosiveness. His ability to make plays on the ball down the field.

“I’m excited to see it in person, not from across the field but wearing the same colors. It’s going to be a lot of fun to work with him and get on the same page and all those types of things. It can’t happen soon enough.”