3 reasons why Julio Jones picked Tom Brady's Buccaneers over Aaron Rodgers' Packers

Modified Nov 08, 2022 11:49 GMT

Julio Jones will play alongside Tom Brady

Julio Jones will be the first to admit that the 2021-22 season wasn’t kind to him. After dominating the league for the better part of the last decade, Jones was given the opportunity to chase a Super Bowl by joining the Tennessee Titans.

Ostensibly still the same player, at least on paper, Jones failed to impress, recording just 434 receiving yards in 10 games. While his production could have been seen as the beginning of the end, Tom Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Aaron Rodgers' Green Bay Packers thought otherwise.

In an attempt to bring the future Hall of Famer to their respective squads, both the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Green Bay Packers showed an incredible amount of interest in signing the free agent wideout.

After sifting through both offers, Jones decided against joining Rodgers in Green Bay and will instead make a Lombardi push alongside Brady.

Here are three reasons why Jones gave Rodgers and the Packers the cold shoulder and signed with the Buccaneers.

#1 Winning pedigree

By and large, Aaron Rodgers has put together a one-of-a-kind career. Yet, despite Rodgers racking up several individual awards, his ability to lead a team to the promised land has been shrouded in doubt.

In only his third full season as the Green Bay Packers' leader, Rodgers led the team to three consecutive victories outside the confines of the Frozen Tundra. In doing so, he found himself in his first Super Bowl. While it wasn’t the prettiest game, Rodgers got the job done, earning his lone Lombardi trophy.

Since that magical run, however, Rodgers has come up incredibly short. The multi-time MVP winner has a postseason record of just 7-9 since then. Additionally, Rodgers has failed to make the Super Bowl the past two seasons, despite lifting the Packers to the top seed in the NFC.

Tom Brady, on the other hand, is in possession of seven Super Bowl titles and won one as recently as 2020.

Throughout their careers, Rodgers has always been pegged as the more talented thrower. However, his precision passing has done little to help his team win a title.

#2 Too much defensive attention

The allure of playing the final few seasons of his career with Aaron Rodgers was likely enticing for Julio Jones. However, with Davante Adams recently leaving town, the pressure to deliver on a weekly basis may have been too much for Jones to bear at this stage in his career.

Over the past two seasons, Adams was essentially a solo act as he was Green Bay's only 1000-yard receiver during that stretch. Unwilling to carry the load alone, Adams left town in favor of the Las Vegas Raiders.

At the ripe age of 33 and coming off back-to-back injury-riddled seasons, Jones can become a reliable and dependable cog on an already stacked offensive roster in Tampa Bay. Jones joins a loaded receiving corps consisting of Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Russell Gage in Tampa.

#3 Tom Brady has shown more desire to win

Neither Tom Brady nor Aaron Rodgers have much time left in the NFL. While it’s a cold and harsh reality for their undying fanbase, Brady appears to have a longer road ahead of him.

Putting aside Brady’s transient retirement this past offseason, he has shown a desire and thirst to win more Super Bowls before officially hanging up his cleats for good.

Simply put, Brady is as locked in as ever. Rodgers, on the other hand, has shown a wide variety of other interests, including an attempt to step into a permanent role as the host of Jeopardy.

Rodgers' focus and how much he has left to give played a major factor in the decision of Davante Adams to leave. The incredibly talented receiver recently revealed that the question marks surrounding Rodgers' future played a significant role in him bolting town for the Las Vegas Raiders.

Given these factors, it's no surprise that Julio Jones opted for the safer option and joined Tampa Bay.