Jacksonville Jaguars: Allen Robinson a Top 10 Receiver

Jacksonville Jaguars second-year wide receiver Allen Robinson isn’t just Blake Bortles’s No. 1 target; he’s also one of the NFL’s elite receivers.

In last night’s Thursday Night Football matchup on the NFL Network, which saw the Jacksonville Jaguars square off against their division rivals the Tennessee Titans, Allen Robinson had a performance that has now elevated him to among the elite at his position in the National Football League.

Also on Spin Zone: Where does Julius Thomas rank among best TEs? 

Robinson caught 5 passes for a 113 yards. Sure, not eye popping, but when you look at the degree of difficultly of some of those catches your opinion will change.

Robinson also had a sweet 17 yard sideline catch, which saw him lay out, get both hands underneath the football, and manage to get both knees in bounds. But why hasn’t Robinson’s name been talked about? Well to start, Robinson was drafted in a heavy pass catcher draft in 2014.

More from Jacksonville Jaguars

• 3 players the Jacksonville Jaguars gave up on way too soon
• 2023 NFL Season: Predicting the passing touchdown leaders
• Jacksonville Jaguars extend breakout tight end Evan Engram
• 2023 NFL Predictions: Every Divisional Winner for the 2023 Season
• Jacksonville Jaguars drafted Trevor Lawrence another intriguing weapon

Robinson was drafted behind the likes of Sammy Watkins, Mike Evans, Odell Beckham Jr, Brandin Cooks, Kelvin Benjamin, and Jordan Matthews. Even Robinson’s teammate Marqise Lee was selected higher than him.  Robinson has outproduced all of these receivers in 2015. Though it is unfair to Kelvin Benjamin, as he’s been on the sidelines for the season.

It also hurts that Robinson missed a lot of his rookie campaign due to injuries, which paved the way for others to get attention and recognition. Nevertheless, if Robinson played in a much bigger market such as New York or Dallas, he would be getting the attention he deserves.  On the season, Robinson now has 50 catches for 871 yards and seven touchdowns. Those 871 yards put him at 4th in the league. His 17.4 yards per catch average rank first among receivers with at least 25 catches and he also leads the league among receptions of over 20 yards with 20.

Robinson should be a shoe-in for the Pro Bowl. Only Antonio Brown of the Steelers and Deandre Hopkins of the Texans have more receivers yards than the second year receiver in the AFC.   If only the Jaguars would utilize Robinson more in the red zone, instead of running up the middle three consecutive times.

Chris Burke of Sports Illustrated says, “The Jaguars’ play calling during their first two red zone trips fell somewhere between egregious and blatantly trying not to score touchdowns. Perhaps most frustrating of all in their desires to ground and pound near the goal line was that Robinson went to waste outside.”

At 6’3, 209 lbs, Robinson has shown he can go up and get the ball. Yet, the Jaguars haven’t tried a fade much at all this season to my knowledge. Robinson now only needs a 129 yards to eclipse a 1,000 for the season, which hasn’t been done since Jimmy Smith did it back in 2005. The Jaguars may have two guys do it this year as Allen Hurns needs less than 300 yards to go over that mark as well.  Did I mention Allen Robinson is only 22 years old?

Next: NFL: The Best Player Born in Every State

The future looks bright for Allen Robinson, who etch his name as the greatest Jaguar wide receiver of all time by the time his career is all said and done.