From Role Player to Game Changer: Wan'Dale Robinson's NY Giants Rise

Ever since returning from an ACL injury, New York Giants receiver Wan’Dale Robinson has been very busy answering the question of Giants fans regarding why the team would invest a second-round draft pick in a diminutive-sized receiver whose skill set coming out of Kentucky seemed to be the oddest of fits.

Robinson, 5-foot-8 and 185 pounds, has developed into the Giants’ go-to target on third downs.

Since 2024 and through the first two games of this season, 70 of his 158 pass targets (44.3%) have come on money down, with Robinson having caught 61.4% of those plays and registering 45 first downs, per NFL Pro.

So far this year, Robinson is once again the league leader in third-down receptions with nine after leading the league last year with 34.

“Wan’Dale's a superstar, man,” said quarterback Russell Wilson. “ I just love how he competes. I love how he plays the game; he sees the game well. He's like a quarterback out there playing receiver. He understands everything. He understands his route concepts and where to be and just has a great feel for the game.”

As a bonus, Robinson, who has been seeing a slight increase in the number of snaps he’s assigned to the outside, Robinson, through two games, has seen his average yards per catch nearly double from the lackluster 7.5 yards per catch last year to an impressive 14.1 yards per reception, which is currently ranked fifth in the league among wide receivers with at least 15 targets.

“Obviously coming out of college, I've been down the field and doing things like that, and obviously just waiting for my opportunity to showcase here,” Robinson said earlier this week.

“From the moment that (quarterback Russell Wilson) Russ got here, he was like, ‘Dude, I know you can get down the field. I've seen it.’ We worked out together, and he was like, ‘I didn't even know you could run that well just from watching the tape from previous games.’ So, he was like, ‘We're going to make sure that this gets going.’”

New York Giants wide receiver Wan'Dale Robinson | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

That Robinson has done. Per NFL Pro, of his 66 routes run in two games this season, he’s averaged career-highs in route depth (11.9 yards), air yards per target (10.4), and vertical route rate (34.8%).

He was also “Mr. Reliable” to Wilson’s “Mr. Unlimited” as far as the deep ball went in Week 2, catching three out of his four deep targets for 107 yards and his first career deep touchdown, the three deep receptions equalling his total from his first 39 career games combined.

Robinson, whose reliability on the money down has made things a lot easier for the offense, which otherwise might count more on Malik Nabers for that critical down, was it not for opposing defenses making it a habit to double-team the Giants’ top receiver, said he’s glad his team feels comfortable counting on him.

“It means a lot,” he said. “It just goes to show the trust that my quarterbacks and the coaches have in me, and I just wanna continue to build on that and continue to be the guy that they can go to on third down.”

“He's got this tenacity to him that we love,” Wilson said. “He's a special player. I mentioned to you guys that there are a lot of things that he can do well. Obviously, he's been exceptional in the slot; he can make plays down the field–I think he's doing a great job of that.

“I think the other best part about him is his work ethic. He gets extra work. He spends a lot of time on it daily. He loves watching the film and understanding the game. I hold him in high regard.”

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