Allen Robinson, Jacksonville JaguarsOver the last few season, the
Jaguars offense has not been the place to mine for fantasy gold. Since the decline and eventual departure of Maurice Jones-Drew, Jacksonville has not produced any major point scorers. In 2014, that will change with the emergence of
Allen Robinson.
Last season, the
Jaguars offense finished with the lowest point total in the league (249) and average 4.7 yards-per-play. Non-explosive and inefficient, it was hard to expect anything else from a unit that was comprised almost entirely of rookies, and
Toby Gerhart. Quarterback
Blake Bortles struggled to find a groove, and
wore down with too much on his shoulders as a rookie behind a bad offensive line. A young quarterback surrounded by similar levels of inexperience in a poor offense can make for an uncomfortable situation for any rookie passer. However, during the early parts of the season, there was one thing that Bortles was comfortable doing, and that was throwing to
Allen Robinson. Frequently in trouble on third down, Bortles' eyes would naturally float to his biggest wide receiver. In the weeks they played together, he threw to
Allen Robinson 24 times on third down, which was ten targets more than the next highest receiver. The chemistry is evident on film, as is the trust Bortles has in Robinson.
Robinson averaged 8.1 targets per game in the 10 contests he participated in last season. If you extrapolate that for a 16-game season, he would have been thrown at 130 times, which would place him in the top-20 in terms of NFL receivers. That mark should be his floor in projections for the 2015 season; there is no real reason to assume Robinson will not be targeted at the same rate in his second season -- new addition
Julius Thomas will siphon from the 66 targets divvied up to
Marcedes Lewis and
Clay Harbor, and pull from the 110 left behind by
Cecil Shorts. If Bortles improves even one iota, then Robinson should be able to turn in an 80-catch season without even being hyper-efficient. In PPR leagues, that sort of safe floor is gold. Particularly in a receiver where a premium investment is not required.
Mike Evans and
Odell Beckham headline the 2014 rookie crop due to their highlight-reel level plays.
Allen Robinson did not provide us with many of those plays as a rookie. However, we know he is capable of impressive athletic feats. Much like a similar photo at Penn State, a
picture of Allen Robinson showing off his 39-inch vertical jump at
Jaguars' minicamp has made the offseason rounds. He does not have the deep speed of some of his peers, but he possess the ability to make plays in contested, and jump ball, situations. For a big man, Robinson
separates from defenders very well in the short and intermediate areas of the field. Quietly, the big receiver displayed pristine route running and release technique as a rookie.
Presenting a reliable target early in-route for a young quarterback is essential, which is why the
Jaguars' receiver will continue to see incredible volume as he progresses through his career.
Allen Robinson currently hovers around the WR30 draft spot,
according to ADP data collected by My
FantasyLeague.com since May 15th. In our own NFL.com leagues, his ADP
is the 147th player off the board in fantasy leagues; behind players like
Percy Harvin,
Cody Latimer and
Dorial Green-Beckham. Those players may not even combine for the number of receptions Robinson will finish with, if healthy. Last year, the WR30 in PPR leagues was
Rueben Randle, the owner of 71 catches for 938 yards and three scores. Robinson was on pace for a 77/877/3 line as a rookie, despite only playing 31.5 percent of the team's snaps in the first two weeks of the season. Meeting his ADP should be no problem, and exceeding it is well within reach. If the "
Jaguars stink" theory causes him to drop into the very late rounds in your league, he could become one of those steals that turn into a league winner (a la
Josh Gordon in 2013).