Reports suggest that the Eagles and Giants are considering making a play for Demarcus Robinson when he becomes a free agent. But that doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense.
Robinson in his first four years has made a handful of big plays. He caught an 89-yard touchdown against the Raiders in Week 17 of the 2018 season. At Oakland in Week 2, he caught 6 passes for 172 yards and 2 TDs. But there haven’t been enough of those games. In his 18 other games last year, he caught 29 passes for 312 yards and 2 TDs.
Robinson really fizzled in the playoffs last year. Against Houston, he dropped 3 passes and caught only 1 pass for 4 yards. Against Tennessee, he caught only 2 passes for 31 yards. And in the Super Bowl, he was on the field for almost half of their plays and didn’t even have a pass thrown his way.
With Mecole Hardman coming on, Kansas City probably isn’t particularly interested in spending much on Robinson. Robinson was on the field for fewer than half of their plays in only four games last year, and three of them came in the final four games of the season (including the playoffs).
So far as a pro, Robinson has been on the field for over half of his team’s offensive plays in 34 games. That’s just over two years worth of games in which he’s been used in a starter-like role. Yet Robinson in those 34 games has caught only 69 passes for 922 yards and 7 TDs. (He’s caught 58 percent of the passes thrown his way in those games).
| ROBINSON IN A STARTER-LIKE ROLE | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Opp | Result | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | Snap% |
| 10/15/17 | Pitt. | L 13-19 | 5 | 1 | 16 | 16.0 | 0 | 91% |
| 10/19/17 | at Oak. | L 30-31 | 8 | 5 | 69 | 13.8 | 0 | 98% |
| 10/30/17 | Den. | W 29-19 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5.0 | 0 | 82% |
| 11/5/17 | at Dall. | L 17-28 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 9.0 | 0 | 98% |
| 11/19/17 | at NYG | L 9-12 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 0 | 96% |
| 11/26/17 | Buff. | L 10-16 | 4 | 2 | 24 | 12.0 | 0 | 88% |
| 12/3/17 | at NYJ | L 31-38 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 8.5 | 0 | 63% |
| 12/10/17 | Oak. | W 26-15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 | 59% |
| 12/16/17 | LAC | W 30-13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 | 56% |
| 12/24/17 | Mia. | W 29-13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 | 53% |
| 12/31/17 | at Den. | W 27-24 | 10 | 4 | 31 | 7.8 | 0 | 92% |
| 1/6/18 | Ten. | L 21-22 | 4 | 4 | 57 | 14.3 | 1 | 78% |
| 10/1/18 | at Den. | W 27-23 | 3 | 2 | 31 | 15.5 | 0 | 58% |
| 11/11/18 | Ariz. | W 26-14 | 4 | 3 | 30 | 10.0 | 0 | 73% |
| 12/2/18 | at Oak. | W 40-33 | 1 | 1 | 38 | 38.0 | 0 | 59% |
| 12/9/18 | Balt. | W 27-24 | 7 | 5 | 42 | 8.4 | 0 | 65% |
| 12/13/18 | LAC | L 28-29 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 3.5 | 1 | 60% |
| 12/23/18 | at Sea. | L 31-38 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 8.5 | 1 | 66% |
| 12/30/18 | Oak. | W 35-3 | 2 | 1 | 89 | 89.0 | 1 | 65% |
| 9/8/19 | at Jac. | W 40-26 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .0 | 0 | 63% |
| 9/15/19 | at Oak. | W 28-10 | 6 | 6 | 172 | 28.7 | 2 | 91% |
| 9/22/19 | Balt. | W 33-28 | 4 | 3 | 43 | 14.3 | 1 | 91% |
| 9/29/19 | at Det. | W 34-30 | 9 | 4 | 35 | 8.8 | 0 | 91% |
| 10/6/19 | Ind. | L 13-19 | 6 | 3 | 31 | 10.3 | 0 | 92% |
| 10/13/19 | Hou. | L 24-31 | 4 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 | 87% |
| 10/17/19 | at Den. | W 30-6 | 5 | 3 | 31 | 10.3 | 0 | 80% |
| 10/27/19 | G.B. | L 24-31 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 3.0 | 0 | 64% |
| 11/10/19 | at Ten. | L 32-35 | 5 | 4 | 56 | 14.0 | 0 | 67% |
| 11/18/19 | at LAC | W 24-17 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 | 57% |
| 12/1/19 | Oak. | W 40-9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 | 55% |
| 12/8/19 | at N.E. | W 23-16 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 0 | 79% |
| 12/15/19 | Den. | W 23-3 | 3 | 2 | 21 | 10.5 | 0 | 55% |
| 12/22/19 | at Chi. | W 26-3 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 13.0 | 0 | 51% |
| 1/12/20 | Hou. | W 51-31 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 0 | 57% |
Robinson hasn’t been heavily used. He averaged only 3.5 targets in those 34 games, with Kansas City more interested in getting the ball to Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce. But Robinson can’t complain about a lack of quality around him. All four of the teams he’s played on have won their division, and he’s been working the last two years with Patrick Mahomes at quarterback.
I would be surprised if either the Eagles or Giants looked into signing Robinson with any hope of him being anything more than a modest third receiver. I don’t expect he’ll every develop into an NFL starter.
This could be a situation where Robinson’s agent is floating out rumors, trying to drum up interest in his client.
—Ian Allan