5 Matchups to Watch in Super Bowl LI

Julio Jones vs. Malcolm Butler

All eyes will be on this matchup, with two of the league's top players at their respective positions facing each other. The last time these two teams played (2013), the Patriots had an entirely different secondary. It's still important to note that Julio Jones saw 13 targets in that game, finishing with a 6-108-0 stat line.

Jones led the league with 100.6 yards per game during the regular season, and that's increased to 123.5 yards during the playoffs. He owns a 26.7 percent target market share in active games during the regular season on a team that had the best team Passing Net Expected Points.

By all accounts, he should see a heavy workload against one of the league's top secondaries.

Head coach Bill Belichick will likely keep Malcolm Butler on the left side of the formation, where Jones runs 44 percent of his routes, according to ProFootballFocus. Butler graded out as PFF's fifth-best coverage corner this past season after allowing 0.25 fantasy points per route defended while being targeted on 18 percent of his routes in coverage.

As noted by FFMatrix, when the Falcons have played defenses similar to the Patriots (20th-29th in pass defense efficiency), Ryan has excelled with a passer rating of at least 119 in each sector of the field, except to the deep left -- that's netted a passer rating of just 67.

The Falcons have arguably one of the top-10 offenses of all time. Kyle Shanahan has found creative ways to get Jones in mismatches all year, and the pass-catcher has scored in three straight games. Creative play-calling and route-running likely give Atlanta the edge in this matchup.

nF Projection

Julio Jones: 5.79 receptions, 81.58 reception yards, 0.67 reception touchdowns