James Robinson Reveals Early Impressions of Meyer, Lawrence and Etienne
In 2020, every single member of the Jacksonville Jaguars knew the team's chances to win a game week in and week out relied upon the performance of James Robinson, a soft-spoken, hard-working and unheralded rookie. In the span of a few months, Robinson went from undrafted free agent to centerpiece of the Jaguars.
Flash forward to the 2021 offseason and a lot has changed. Robinson is no longer looked at as the Jaguars' sole hope on Sundays. His head coach is no longer the one who rolled the dice and went to bat for him as a rookie. There is a star quarterback he will now share the backfield with. And he is also no longer the only face in the running back room who can be looked at as a No. 1 rusher.
But for as much as things change, they also stay the same.
"James Robinson is one of my favorite guys. I can’t name a harder worker right now on our team, and that started in January all the way through June now," Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer said on Thursday. "So, I love that guy.”
The firing of former Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone and the hiring of Meyer in February (along with the firing of general manager Dave Caldwell and hiring of Trent Baalke) meant a clean slate for every member of the Jaguars' roster, even players such as Robinson who were among the team's lone bright spots in 2020.
But while Meyer has no ties to Robinson in terms of his journey to Jacksonville and his success in 2020, the coach's respect for the tough-nosed runner is evident. As is Robinson's own respect for Meyer, who is new to the NFL in 2021 just as Robinson was last year.
"He’s a cool guy, a good guy to be around. It’s more when we’re in meetings, he’s just showing a lot of energy and every day he’s ready to go at practice," Robinson said on Thursday.
Robinson entered the NFL with a loyal following of fans and coaches who saw him dominate at Illinois State and in the Illinois high school football scene. After making waves in training camp, Robinson became the Jaguars' top running back following the release of Leonard Fournette ahead of Week 1.
Overall, Robinson carried the ball 240 times for 1,070 yards (4.5 yards per carry) for seven touchdowns. He led rookie running backs in receptions (49) and touchdown receptions (three) while recording 344 yards. In 14 games, Robinson finished with 1,414 scrimmage yards (1,070 rushing, 344 receiving), the most scrimmage yards by an undrafted rookie in the common-draft era. He was also the only rookie in the NFL to average more than 100 scrimmage yards per game this season.
Despite Robinson's massive success as a rookie, the Jaguars didn't hesitate to add to the running back room this offseason. The Jaguars signed veteran running back Carlos Hyde in free agency, reuniting the power back with his former coach in Meyer and the general manager who drafted him in Baalke.
But the signing of Hyde wasn't the biggest sign of Robinson's role changing. Instead, it was when the Jaguars used the No. 25 overall selection on Clemson running back Travis Etienne. Robinson dominated Jacksonville's snaps and touches out of the backfield a year ago, but adding both a veteran backup and a first-round pick to the mix changes things a good bit.
"I think it’ll mesh very well. We’ve all just been trying to learn the offense right now, but as we get into training camp, we’ll see. I’m sure it will work out well," Robinson said.
"When they brought those guys in, I knew of them. It’s really just I have to go out there and control what I can control and once I get my opportunity, just make the most of it.”
For Robinson, the relationship with Etienne so far has been a strong one. The two can be seen communicating often on the practice field and Robinson hasn't been shy about stepping into the same veteran role that players like Devine Ozigbo and Christian Thompson were in for him last year.
"It’s great. He asks questions all the time. He’s a good guy to talk to. It’s great. Him and Trevor [Lawrence] coming in, it’s great," Robinson said.
But while Etienne is the one Robinson will have to share the ball and snaps with, it is Lawrence who he will share the field with the most. Lawrence is the first-ever No. 1 pick in Jaguars' franchise history and is widely regarded to be the best quarterback prospect since Andrew Luck in 2012.
But for all of the hype surrounding Lawrence, Robinson is continuing to remain, well, James Robinson. He sees the talent and the big arm, but he also sees another teammate he will get to know and work next to, just like the other 88 he currently has.
“He’s just a guy that likes to work. Seeing him in practice, it’s just like that’s Trevor Lawrence, just watching him play, he throw the ball really well," Robinson said.
"He has some speed on him too so when we get in camp, we’ll see how that goes. Other than OTAs, you’re not really hitting each other and everything like that. He’s a great guy and is fun to be around.”
