Throughout the offseason and when training camp began, the rhetoric around the NFL was that the Jets didn’t get enough receiving talent for Sam Darnold to have a successful 3rd season. Once Camp began we became enamored with Breshad Perriman who was looking good, Denzel Mims before injury, & the rest of the young receiver talent just brimming with potential.
Cue the injury bug thats plagued all NFL teams so far. I have to say nothing as you all know the kind of weird & surreal year we have been experiencing. Same goes for the players. With lack of training and time together, coupled with no preseason, the writing was on the wall. Respiratory health wouldn’t be the only problem for NFL players in 2020.
So Perriman gets hurt in camp along with a plethora of other Jets who needed that time to adequately prepare and build chemistry. Mims hurts his hamstring, come back after some time, and hurts his other hamstring. You can’t make this up! The Jets brought in Hogan (Mr. 7/11 himself) but after week 1, one thing is painfully clear:
The Jets do NOT have a true wide receiver 1 on their roster! Yes Crowder is unbelievable but as a 5’9″ 177lbs WR to expect anything more than amazing slot production from him is wishful thinking. The Jets need a big guy that can line up on the outside. A guy like Allen Robinson, who requires double teams yet still makes those catches. A guy that when outside is so dangerous he opens the field up for the players around him.
Remember, Allen Robinson was the 61st pick back in the 2014 draft. With 7 years of NFL experience, he is amazingly only 27 years old and in the prime of his career. In 2015 and 2016 he was the unquestioned best receiver on the Jaguars and one of the top wide receivers in the league. After an ACL injury in 2017, he joined the Bears in 2018 and had two more seasons of again being the best wide receiver on that team and again one of the best in the league. He deserves to be paid as such, and this has created tensions between him and the Bears front office. Cue the trade talks.
Yes publicly he has said he wants to stay with the Bears and the front office has reiterated the same. However we have seen this a LOT over the last few seasons. Unless you are an absolute child and head case like a former Jets player and you go force a trade and alienate a fan base, this is how these situations usually pan out. Look at the facts. The Bears are no where near being a playoff team. To do so you need a QB and though Trubisky has shown flashes at time he is not the guy, and Foles is just a temporary bandaid. I expect the Bears to be one of the teams in the running for Trevor Lawrence in the draft. When the Dolphins were the same way a season ago, they traded away everybody to build substantial draft capital because thats how you turn a team around. They got rid of their most talented players including Laremy Tunsil and Minkah Fitzpatrick. I expect no different here.
The question now is what will it take to entice the Bears and outbid other teams also desperate for a wide receiver 1. With the talent level and prime age I brought up earlier, I cannot see him being traded for anything less than a 2nd. That being said, the Jets have whiffed on most of their 2nd round picks the last 2 decades anyway, and they have 2 firsts next draft.
Imagine this scenario: Jets trade 2nd for Robinson, then use both 1st next year to address OL, CB, and/or edge rusher. I’m getting excited just thinking about that! Plus you give Darnold right now something he desperately needs and deserves: a real top wide receiver. Robinson will only make Crowder, Herndon, and the other Jets receivers better as well.
Pull the trigger Joe Douglas!
Bring Allen Robinson to the Jets.