Young running back James Robinson has not been involved in the Jacksonville Jaguars’ offense too much this season despite the former undrafted free agent having performed at a high level in his first two seasons with the team.
With roughly a week to go ahead of the NFL trade deadline, he will now be calling another city home moving forward.
According to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, Robinson has been dealt to the conference-rival New York Jets.
This move comes after New York lost stud rookie running back Breece Hall for the remainder of the season due to a torn ACL he suffered Sunday afternoon against the Denver Broncos. Talk about general manager Joe Douglas being quick to work the phones.
Another report suggests that Jacksonville is adding a mere conditional sixth-round pick in the James Robinson blockbuster. It could end up being a fifth-round selection depending on what the running back does in Jersey.
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James Robinson is a huge addition for the New York Jets
Robinson had fallen behind Travis Etienne on the Jaguars’ depth chart through the first seven weeks of the season. In fact, the small-school product played just 12 snaps in Sunday’s loss to the New York Giants. Perhaps, this expedited a trade to the surprising Jets.
At 5-2 on the season, New York adds a player in Robinson who was extremely productive in his first two seasons with the Jaguars.
- James Robinson stats (2020-21): 1,837 rushing yards, 4.5 average, 80 receptions, 566 receiving yards, 2,403 total yards, 18 TD
It remains to be seen why Jacksonville opted to move off Robinson for pretty much pennies in return. But head coach Doug Pederson seemingly showed confidence that the young back could be part of a system approach following Sunday’s game.
“He has been good each week and something that we’ve got to really take a look at and see. We know T.J. [Travis Etienne, Jr.] has done a nice job kind of taking over there, but we need everybody. We need James, and we’ve got a lot of confidence in James still. It’s not anything about lack of confidence or anything. We just have to make sure he is 100% before we move forward.”
Doug Pederson on James Robinson’s lack of usage
That’s no longer going to be the case. Rather, Robinson heads to a surprising 5-2 Jets team and will likely share carries with Michael Carter moving forward.