Julio Jones Injury Update: How Is Falcons Star's Hamstring Injury?

The Atlanta Falcons gave up a lot to get Julio Jones in the draft, so the last thing they want to see is him limping off the field.

Unfortunately for them, that's exactly what they saw during their 25-14 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night. Jones had to leave the game in the second half with a hamstring injury, and he was unable to return before the end of the game.

Jones' status is still iffy, but let's go ahead and discuss the implications of his injury.

Injury Update

Shortly after Jones left the game, NFL.com's Jeff Darlington quickly reported that his night looked to be over:

That turned out to be correct, as Jones was unable to return before the end of the game.

The game ended a short while ago, and nothing else has come to light about Jones' injury. All we know is that he has a hamstring injury and that it was bad enough to keep him from returning.

When Is He Ready to Return?

This will depend entirely on what kind of hamstring injury Jones has. That is a tricky enough problem in its own right, and hamstring injuries can be tough to judge.

In a perfect world, Jones is just battling some tightness that won't affect him going forward. In an imperfect world, this is the start of a nagging problem that will bug him for a few weeks, a la Arian Foster.

Fantasy Impact

Jones only had one catch for 16 yards against the Packers, but his injury is a big blow to fantasy owners regardless. The sheer lack of production from Jones is going to lead to a lot of close losses, and Jones' production will be missed if he has to miss a game or two (or three, or four, etc.).

To give you an idea, Jones showed how productive he can be by hauling in 17 catches for 242 yards in Weeks 3 and 4. That's what the Falcons expected to get when they drafted him, and the same can be said of all the fantasy owners who drafted Jones.

Making matters worse, the Falcons don't really have any reliable backups fantasy owners can turn to. Harry Douglas and Eric Weems are not guys you can rely on. Or want to rely on, for that matter.

What They're Saying

Most people on the Twitterverse are complaining about Jones from a fantasy standpoint, but Chad Reuter, an NFL draft analyst for NFLDraftScout.com and CBSSports.com, pointed out something else about Jones:

That sound you just heard was that of people high-fiving each other in the Cleveland Browns' front office.