Chicago Bears Allen Robinson career trajectory

What does the future trajectory for Allen Robinson look like?

Looking into quarterbacks who had a start to their career similar to Mitch Trubisky, we were able to pin down a defined list of 10 quarterbacks, and different situations that could come from players who have a similar start.

When looking into the rookie season of David Montgomery, there are a lot of Le’Veon Bell comparisons in his future. It will obviously not be the same with Robinson, he was not drafted by the Chicago Bears. Robinson also missed a full season due to an ACL tear, which is tough find direct comparisons too.

However, this post will look at a variety of comparisons to Robinson in terms of his age, production, and what his last two years have looked like.

Last two years

In fact, we will start with the last two years. Below is a list of the top receivers over the past two years sorted by targets. Only 11 wide receivers saw more targets than Robinson since Robinson was signed with the Bears. He has to be happy with the volume.

Game Rece Rk Player Tgt Rec Yds Y/R TD Y/G Ctch% Y/Tgt 1 Michael Thomas 332 274 3130 11.42 18 97.8 82.5% 9.43 2 Julio Jones 327 212 3071 14.49 14 99.1 64.8% 9.39 3 DeAndre Hopkins 313 219 2737 12.50 18 88.3 70.0% 8.74 4 Davante Adams 296 194 2383 12.28 18 88.3 65.5% 8.05 5 Jarvis Landry 287 164 2150 13.11 10 67.2 57.1% 7.49 6 Keenan Allen 285 201 2395 11.92 12 74.8 70.5% 8.40 7 Robert Woods 269 176 2353 13.37 8 75.9 65.4% 8.75 8 Julian Edelman 261 174 1967 11.30 12 70.3 66.7% 7.54 9 Odell Beckham 257 151 2087 13.82 10 74.5 58.8% 8.12 10 Tyler Boyd 256 166 2074 12.49 12 69.1 64.8% 8.10 11 Mike Evans 256 153 2681 17.52 16 92.4 59.8% 10.47 12 Allen Robinson 248 153 1901 12.42 11 65.6 61.7% 7.67 13 Stefon Diggs 243 165 2151 13.04 15 71.7 67.9% 8.85 14 JuJu Smith-Schuster 236 153 1978 12.93 10 70.6 64.8% 8.38 15 Amari Cooper 226 154 2194 14.25 15 70.8 68.1% 9.71

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/4/2020.

Robison is 13th in receptions and 15th in yards since he was signed. He was 11th in yards per catch and 13th in yards per target of that group. When you look at production he is certainly among the top half of number one wide receivers in the NFL.

Age 25 and 26 seasons

One of the best parts of signing Robinson was that he was only 25 during the first year they had him. Looking solely into the two years he has had in Chicago, here are the closest historical comparisons to have his type of production at his age.

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/4/2020.

Bears fans surely remember Engram from 98-99. However, Bears have to be eyeing the comparison to Andre Johnson at this point. The two are both big presences.

Production Before Age 27

Below is a list of players who had the closest production to Robinson, throughout his entire career before the age 27.

Game Rece Rk Player From To Draft Tm Lg G GS Tgt Rec Yds Y/R TD Y/G Ctch% Y/Tgt 1 Andre Johnson 2003 2007 1-3 HTX NFL 70 70 620 371 4804 12.95 25 68.6 59.8% 7.75 2 Randall Cobb 2011 2016 2-64 GNB NFL 81 53 522 366 4488 12.26 35 55.4 70.1% 8.60 3 Stefon Diggs 2015 2019 5-146 MIN NFL 70 63 534 365 4623 12.67 30 66.0 68.4% 8.66 4 Frank Sanders 1995 1999 2-47 CRD NFL 80 79 679 364 4812 13.22 14 60.2 53.6% 7.09 5 Allen Robinson 2014 2019 2-61 TOT NFL 72 68 632 355 4749 13.38 33 66.0 56.2% 7.51 6 Al Toon 1985 1989 1-10 NYJ NFL 69 60 355 4574 12.88 23 66.3

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/4/2020.

Randall Cobb and Stefon Diggs are strong comparisons, but once again we see Andre Johnson.

Both stand at 6’2″, and both in the 220-225 range. The biggest difference is that Andre Johnson ran a 4.4 40-yard dash, and Robinson ran a 4.56. That is why Johnson went top five, and Robinson went round two. Fans can admit Robinson is great, but is not winning races.

When looking at player profiler to see how the two compare as prospects, there are some similarities. Johnson has a 120 speed score to 103 for Robinson. However, Johnson had a 132 burst score, while Robinson had a 129.8. Both had a 39″ vertical jump. Robinson had an 11 agility score, Johnson had a 10.91. Robinson has a 10.28 catch radius, Johnson had 10.41.

He is slightly heavier and longer, and has more deep speed, but the two have similar burst and agilty for their size as well as similar production in the NFL before the age of 27.

At the end of the day it is not a perfect comparison, but similar to David Montgomery and Le’Veon Bell, the more that you dwindled the list down, the comparison remained. Johnson was always regarded as a top tier receiver, and Robinson has the stats over the past two years, and before the age of 27 to match it.

The best trajectory for Robinson at this stage of his career is Andre Johnson.