JFS171
Footballguy
With Fournette unceremoniously released, Armstead missing practice after previously being on the COVID-19 list, and only fellow UDFA (from 2019) Devine Ozigbo on the roster ahead of him, it seems Robinson deserves his own thread to discuss. He's from FCS Illinois State, but received a combine invite where he weighed in at 219 lbs at 5'9".
His Scouting Combine metrics:
40-time: 4.64
Vertical: 40" (second among RBs only to AJ Dillon's 41")
Broad: 125" (fifth among RBs: Dillon was 131" followed by 3 dudes from an unlicensed video game - Jet Anderson, Rico Dowdle, Brian Herrien)
3-Cone: 7.03 (fifth among RBs: Josh Kelley and Eno Benjamin were sub-7 with JJ Taylor just behind and Jonathan Taylor posting a 7.01)
Short Shuttle: 4.19 (fourth among RBs: JaMycal Hasty, JJ Taylor, and Jet Anderson beat him; Jonathan Taylor logged a 4.24)
Bench: 24 Reps (third overall behind two guys I've never heard of - Scottie Phillips and Sewo Olonilua)
Suffice to say, one helluva combine outside of the 40-time. Per PlayerProfiler, that's a 92nd percentile burst score, a 69th percentile agility score, and an 80th percentile bench.
As for the production at Illinois State ... well ... in 2019, Robinson rushed for 1,917 yards (5.3 YPC) with 18 TDs in 15 games. For context, Illinois State THREW for only 1,767 yards and 10 TDs. He outran their entire passing game by 150 yards and scored 8 more TDs. Their second leading rusher, for comparison, had only 476 yards at 4.3 YPC. This wasn't some rushing powerhouse - he was simply their entire offense, and teams still couldn't stop him.
Fast forward to the present. Fournette is gone, Armstead is absent (and may or may not be any good anyway), and Ozigbo and Robinson are being talked up by Doug Marrone as 3-down backs, which is preferable to 2-down banger or 3rd-down specialist. While Thompson will obviously have some role, his presence on the field immediately tells the defense what they're doing.
I'll admit when I started looking into Robinson, I didn't expect to find all this. I wasn't that impressed with Armstead and like Ozigbo quite a bit, but we may all be missing the boat with Robinson.
His Scouting Combine metrics:
40-time: 4.64
Vertical: 40" (second among RBs only to AJ Dillon's 41")
Broad: 125" (fifth among RBs: Dillon was 131" followed by 3 dudes from an unlicensed video game - Jet Anderson, Rico Dowdle, Brian Herrien)
3-Cone: 7.03 (fifth among RBs: Josh Kelley and Eno Benjamin were sub-7 with JJ Taylor just behind and Jonathan Taylor posting a 7.01)
Short Shuttle: 4.19 (fourth among RBs: JaMycal Hasty, JJ Taylor, and Jet Anderson beat him; Jonathan Taylor logged a 4.24)
Bench: 24 Reps (third overall behind two guys I've never heard of - Scottie Phillips and Sewo Olonilua)
Suffice to say, one helluva combine outside of the 40-time. Per PlayerProfiler, that's a 92nd percentile burst score, a 69th percentile agility score, and an 80th percentile bench.
As for the production at Illinois State ... well ... in 2019, Robinson rushed for 1,917 yards (5.3 YPC) with 18 TDs in 15 games. For context, Illinois State THREW for only 1,767 yards and 10 TDs. He outran their entire passing game by 150 yards and scored 8 more TDs. Their second leading rusher, for comparison, had only 476 yards at 4.3 YPC. This wasn't some rushing powerhouse - he was simply their entire offense, and teams still couldn't stop him.
Fast forward to the present. Fournette is gone, Armstead is absent (and may or may not be any good anyway), and Ozigbo and Robinson are being talked up by Doug Marrone as 3-down backs, which is preferable to 2-down banger or 3rd-down specialist. While Thompson will obviously have some role, his presence on the field immediately tells the defense what they're doing.
I'll admit when I started looking into Robinson, I didn't expect to find all this. I wasn't that impressed with Armstead and like Ozigbo quite a bit, but we may all be missing the boat with Robinson.
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