Julio Jones' Advice for Dez: “Get Fully Healthy” Before Returning

Atlanta Falcons receiver Julio Jones knows a thing or two about dealing with a broken foot.

In 2013, Jones was limited to five games with a broken foot. It was the same foot he had broken in 2011 at the Combine, and he was shut down by the team for the rest of the season. That’s where his case and that of the Cowboys’ Dez Bryant part. Bryant suffered a broken bone in his foot in the opener, but the team isn’t about to shut him down.

In fact, both Bryant and the Cowboys have insisted he’ll be back earlier than some of the less optimistic timetables that have come out.

But Jones hopes Bryant isn’t going to rush back before he’s ready.

“With Dez, he’s just going to have to take time and get healed up properly,” Jones said, per Drew Davison of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “You don’t want to rush it and then it sets you back. If you come back too early, then it can put you back again. So, my thing to Dez is, just get fully healthy and then you can go out there and help your teammates.”

Jones knows well that playing the waiting game, as he’s urging Bryant to do, grows frustrating.

“It was very difficult for me, but I understood the bigger picture,” Jones said. “The next year I didn’t want to be going through the same thing again, and I’ve been back a year now and going into this year I haven’t had a foot injury or problem at all with my foot.”