An inside look at Julio Jones’ impact on the Eagles receivers: ‘Everybody respects him here.’

A few days before Julio Jones signed with the Eagles, A.J. Brown gave him a call.

“What you doing?” Brown asked.

“Working out,” Jones said.

“How you feeling?” Brown asked.

“Good,” Jones said.

“You in shape?” Brown asked.

“Hell yeah,” Jones said.

That was all the Eagles’ wide receiver needed to hear. Jones talked to his agent, and, by Oct. 17, he was on their practice squad. By Nov. 1, he was signed to their active roster.

“You could say I played a little bit of a role,” Brown, previously a teammate of Jones’ with the Tennessee Titans, said with a smile.

When the transaction was announced, some fans were confused. Jones, a five-time All-Pro, is on his way to the Hall of Fame, after accumulating seven seasons with more than 1,000 receiving yards, but right now, he is a 34-year-old No. 3 wide receiver who has seen his yardage dwindle in recent years.

Brown doesn’t see him that way. Neither does DeVonta Smith, or Olamide Zaccheaus, or Britain Covey, or any of the other receivers on the Eagles’ roster. They grew up watching Jones. Some of them modeled their games after his. Even players like Smith and Brown, who are among the best receivers in the NFL, still view Jones with wide-eyed reverence.

Smith likes to say that Jones is “the standard.” When he was at Alabama, he would watch film of Jones to learn how to play “the Alabama way.” Over the last few weeks, Smith has started to use him as a resource. He recently approached Jones with a question. He’d noticed that Jones runs with his knees high up in the air and wondered if he should be doing the same.

“The higher the knees are, the better,” Jones told him. “It’s all about your knee drive.”

Smith, a Heisman Trophy winner who is approaching 3,000 career yards midway through his third NFL season, said Jones’ advice has helped refine his route running. He isn’t alone. Brown, a soon-to-be three-time Pro Bowler who has 5,504 receiving yards through 70 career games, still watches Jones’ highlights on YouTube.

» READ MORE: Julio Jones’ NFL dominance inspired A.J. Brown to stick it out at receiver. Now both are Eagles.

One Saturday, Brown pulled up his favorite reel so he could watch it with the other receivers. Jones was there, too. As they studied his highlights, Brown began to predict what Jones was about to do.

His predictions were so accurate that his teammates started to laugh at him.

“I’m literally telling Julio what he’s about to do,” Brown said. “He has an hour-long highlight reel, and I just sit there and watch it. Because sometimes you need reminding, you know? Of how it’s supposed to be done.”

Jones has always had talent. When he committed to Alabama in 2008, he was the No. 4 overall recruit in the country, according to Rivals. But head coach Nick Saban made it clear early on that the young receiver would have to earn his spot on the team. Jones embraced the challenge.

When he began his college career, Jones said he was listed fourth on Alabama’s depth chart. That quickly changed. As a freshman, he gained 15.9 yards per reception and collected 924 yards over 14 games. But what impressed Saban even more was Jones’ leadership skills.

By 19 years old, he was creating a culture. Saban would hold afternoon practices where his players would do heavy squats, followed by sprints under the scorching Alabama sun. It was designed to max out their legs. If a player leaned over, the rep wouldn’t count.

Jones remembers one practice freshman year where his teammates started to show signs of fatigue. He stood next to them so they could lean on his shoulder, instead.

“I had to hold up people,” Jones said. “I told them, ‘Don’t lean over, just lean on me.’ ”

Jones says he has always been this way. He takes pride in being a leader, but above all, he takes pride in being selfless. In the three years Jones played under Saban, the coach noticed a shift in his skill players on offense. Suddenly, there was less pouting when receivers didn’t get the ball. There was more physical and mental toughness in the way they played.

“He changed all of that,” Saban said of Jones in 2018. “He made players look at what you had to do to be a complete player at that position, which was a huge benefit for us.”

Said Jones: “It’s showing people how to work and how to not be selfish as a receiver. We’re all one unit. We’re all successful or we all fail. We’re all an extension of one another. If we’re still in session, I’m not stopping on the play and saying it wasn’t my fault. I say, ‘OK, let’s make it right.’ You can’t play selfish football.”

Jones has a Hall of Fame resumé but works like a player who has something to prove. When he began learning the Eagles’ offense a few weeks ago, he struggled to adjust to running their skinny post route. It’s a route Jones has run well in his career, but when he was with the Atlanta Falcons, he would rely more on his speed than running a specific angle. The Eagles wanted him to run it at a specific angle.

It took some time for him to adjust, and as he started to watch tape of himself running the route in the film room, he got frustrated.

“He was so mad,” Covey said. “He could be like, ‘All right, I’ll get them next time.’ But he’s hard on himself. He’s like, ‘Man, this is bugging me so bad.’ And it’s over a little mistake.”

The next day, Jones made his teammates run the play that involved that route on the practice field three more times. He would’ve made them run it more if he hadn’t felt like he had it down.

“I hate making mistakes,” he said. “I am a perfectionist. When you get tired and fatigue sets in, you need to know stuff cold. I can run this in my sleep. I can’t run this wrong, I know it so well. That’s where I like to get to.”

His teammates have taken note. In the practices leading up to the Eagles-Commanders game on Oct. 29, Jones and quarterback Jalen Hurts began working on a red-zone play but struggled to get their timing right.

Head coach Nick Sirianni estimated that they ran it 15 times in practice. In the fourth quarter of the Commanders game, the play finally came together. Hurts threw a dart to Jones in traffic and Jones withstood a big hit to hold onto the football for a touchdown. It was the first touchdown with the Eagles, and it gave his team its first lead of the day.

» READ MORE: Behind Eagles WR Julio Jones’ go-ahead touchdown: Repetition, patience, and his ‘want to’

The Eagles started to maul Jones in the end zone. Smith and Brown came running over to jump on him, but so did Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata, and Jason Kelce. The show of support was telling.

“He and Jalen worked on that play so much within those two days,” Smith said. “It wasn’t working out. But it just shows that if you keep practicing, it’ll come together, and in the game, it came together.”

Said Brown: “This guy is going to the Hall of Fame, and he’s still working hard. He’s showing you how to work. The younger guys get to see it from us, but it’s different when they see it from a first-ballot Hall of Famer.”

Jones took 57% of the Eagles’ snaps in Monday night’s game against the Chiefs. It was almost double his previous season-high snap count. With tight end Dallas Goedert out with a right forearm fracture, Jones could see increased playing time over the next few weeks.

Given his age, this might come as a surprise to some, but not to those who have seen his selfless game and meticulous work ethic up close. Brown knows Jones’ value better than anyone. He knows it doesn’t just show up on Sundays. It’s omnipresent.

“He’s a great human being,” Brown said. “I’m still learning from him. I’m still trying to soak in as much as I can. He fits right in with the room. Everybody respects him here.”

The Eagles host the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Join Eagles beat reporters Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith as they dissect the hottest story lines surrounding the team on Gameday Central, live from Lincoln Financial Field.