The Pro Football Hall of Fame's class of 2024 will officially be inducted on Aug. 3.
With less than a month until the annual event in Canton, Ohio, we're examining which players – past and present – on the league's 32 teams we think will one day receive a similar honor.
Here are three Atlanta Falcons who should eventually receive football immortality:
Wide receiver Julio Jones
The greatest wideout in Falcons franchise history, Jones must wait until 2030 at the earliest to be enshrined in Canton. A 2024 free agent, he isn't done with his playing career just yet after 13 seasons.
Jones, the former No. 6 overall pick of the 2011 NFL Draft, led the league in receiving twice (2015, 2018), reached seven Pro Bowls and was a member of the Hall of Fame's All-2010s Team.
He is 16th on the all-time receiving yards list (13,703) and also had one of the greatest catches in Super Bowl history.
Cruelly overshadowed by Atlanta's epic meltdown against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI, Jones made an absurd 27-yard, fourth-quarter catch on the sideline, giving the Falcons the ball at New England's 22-yard line with 4:40 left. Atlanta led 28-20.
The catch should have been the defining play of Atlanta's first Super Bowl win in franchise history.
It wasn't Jones' fault the Falcons lost 23 yards on the rest of the drive, were forced out of field-goal range and ultimately lost in overtime.
We don't expect voters to hold that against him, either.
Left tackle Jake Matthews
The NFL's reigning ironman, Matthews, 31, has made 161 consecutive regular-season starts (166, including the postseason). He's only been inactive for one game – Week 2 of his rookie season – during his 10-year career and has otherwise been a stalwart on Atlanta's offensive line.
Matthews has been one of the best tackles in football since being drafted No. 6 overall in 2014.
Per Stathead, from 2014-23, his Pro Football Reference Approximate Value (86) ranked fourth among all tackles. (More info on AV can be found here; essentially, it's a formula created by Pro Football Reference's Doug Drinen to "put a single number on the seasonal value of a player at any position.")
Quarterback Matt Ryan
The 2016 NFL MVP burst on the scene by leading the Falcons to an 11-5 record as a rookie in 2008. From 2011-20, he posted 10 consecutive 4,000-yard seasons and led the league in completion percentage (68.6) in 2012.
He ranks seventh on the passing yardage leaders list (62,792), sandwiched between Philip Rivers and Dan Marino, two other excellent, long-time franchise quarterbacks without a Super Bowl ring. Rivers won't be eligible until 2026, but Hall of Fame voters didn't hold Marino's lack of postseason success against him, inducting him in his first year of eligibility in 2005.
Ryan didn't play in 2023 but officially retired in April, meaning he will be on the ballot for the first time in 2029. The Falcons all-time leading passer should end the decade with a gold jacket.
