Wan'Dale Robinson's Career Comes Full Circle as Tops 1,000-yard Mark

Giants fourth-year receiver Wan'Dale Robinson has had a more productive season to eclipse 1,000 yards for the first time in his career.

Dec 28, 2025; Paradise, Nevada, USA; New York Giants wide receiver Wan'Dale Robinson (17) catches the ball in the first quarter against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

When the New York Giants drafted receiver Wan'Dale Robinson with the 43rd overall selection in the 2022 NFL Draft, the move was met with mixed feelings. 

Yes, the Giants needed receiver help, but many people were looking for something in a much bigger package than 5-foot-8 and 178 pounds. 

Players like John Metchie, Tyquan Thornton, Alec Pierce, and, of course, George Pickens, were all drafted in the second round after Robinson. They were all taller and were either faster or just as fast as Robinson, and it was easy to see 1,000-yard projections for them. 

The one thing Robinson exhibited in college that nobody could deny was his heart and his will to be great. That allowed him to play much bigger than his size, and it has led to his first 1,000-yard season. 

Initial Reactions

New York Giants wide receiver Wan'Dale Robinson | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

After a rookie season cut short by an ACL injury, he returned for his sophomore campaign and established himself as a solid third receiver on a team that had three different starting quarterbacks. 

That was not good enough for many who saw the potential upside of Pickens, Pierce, and Thornton in their ability to gain significant yards per catch. 

People believed the Giants could have gotten more from a second-round pick in one of the most talent-rich drafts at the position.  

Volume Without Efficiency

In 2024, Robinson was elevated to the second receiver in tandem with rookie Malik Nabers. Despite the shuffling at quarterback for a second consecutive season, Robinson put up career numbers in receptions (93) and yards (699), and the criticism shifted. 

While Robinson proved he could handle a massive workload, the problem was that it was inefficient. He was targeted 140 times with only a 66.4% catch rate, a career low to that point. He also recorded career lows in yards per reception (7.5) and yards per target (5). 

Meanwhile, fellow embattled Giants receiver Darius Slayton, who only received half the targets of Robinson and caught 39 passes, finished with 573 yards, almost doubling Robinson's yards per reception output with 14.7 yards. 

The debate raged on over the offseason, and the front office was criticized for not making more significant moves to bolster the receiving corps. 

Robinson was looked at as nothing more than a fantasy PPR scammer. Was he just some dump-off option with limited run-after-catch ability, like the stats would lead you to believe, or was there more? 

The True Breakout

WR Wan’Dale Robinson hits the 1,000 receiving yards mark and his #giants teammates are his best free agency hypemen as you can hear in background:

“Somebody pay that man” pic.twitter.com/44f6oh4RsT

— Charlotte Carroll (@charlottecrrll) December 29, 2025

In 2025, Robinson proved to everybody that there was more. In their Week 2 game against Dallas, he caught eight passes on 10 targets for 142 yards, a massive 17.8 yards per reception and a 14.2 yards per target average. 

Then, Malik Nabers went down with a season-ending knee injury, Tyrone Tracy missed a pair of games, Darius Slayton was in and out of the lineup, Cam Skattebo went out with a season-ending injury, and quarterback Jaxson Dart had to miss time working his way through concussion protocol. 

That left Robinson to hold down the fort for the offensive playmakers. And that he did, as in Week 17 against the Raiders, Robinson posted his third 100-yard receiving day and broke 1,000 yards for the first time in his four-year Giants career. 

The most impressive part has been the efficiency improvements. Operating as the de facto primary wide receiver for the team most of the season, Robinson has 140 targets, the same number as he had last season, and 92 receptions, one shy of his 2024 mark. 

But he has 315 more yards than last season, making this year an improvement. In addition, his yards per reception is 11, the best mark of his career, and his 7.1 yards per target is just barely lower than his rookie season at 7.2 yards per target. 

In a contract season, Robinson has made it very difficult to decide his future with the team. Of course, they will find guys with the potential to be better than Robinson, but that does not mean they will be. 

Currently, the only player in the 2025 season who is having a better season than Robinson among the receivers taken in the second round of the 2022 draft is Pickens.  

Robinson is going to get paid. The question is, will it be by the Giants?

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