The Jacksonville Jaguars have a lot of obvious needs after a 3-14 season, but none of those positions seem quite as pressing as the receiver spot. The team added Marvin Jones Jr. in free agency last offseason, but that addition wasn’t enough to overcome a season-ending injury to DJ Chark Jr. in Week 4.
Receiver play held back the development of quarterback Trevor Lawrence quite a bit, and Jacksonville will almost certainly look to add some talent at that spot this offseason. Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox thinks the team could be a dark horse to land a player in free agency that Jags fans are very familiar with: receiver Allen Robinson, who played for the team from 2014-17 before heading to Chicago in free agency.
Robinson can still be a No. 1 receiver for the right team. The Jacksonville Jaguars wouldn’t appear to be that team at a glance. Robinson left Jacksonville in 2018 free agency, and after a disastrous 2021 season, the Jaguars aren’t likely to be a huge free-agent draw.
However, a return to Jacksonville could make sense for Robinson. The Jaguars don’t have a true No. 1 receiver on their roster, but they do have a talented young signal-caller in rookie No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence.
Marvin Jones Jr. was Lawrence’s top target in 2021, finishing with 832 yards and four touchdowns. Laviska Shenault Jr. (619 yards) was the only other Jaguar to top 500 receiving yards. Robinson could be the sort of go-to target that Lawrence currently lacks.
Knox does think that whether Robinson considers Jacksonville could hinge on the coaching hire the team makes after a disastrous one-year tenure for Urban Meyer that served as an embarrassment for the franchise.
A lot will hinge on whom the Jaguars hire as their next head coach and whether they can erase the stink of the Urban Meyer era. Jacksonville was a mess under Meyer’s guidance this season—things were bad enough that fans dressed as clowns en masse for the season finale.
Robinson has never benefited from elite quarterback play, but he did have a Pro Bowl campaign (1,400 yards, 14 TD) with the Jaguars in 2015. If Robinson is convinced Lawrence can develop into the sort of top-tier quarterback he’s never experienced, he could be tempted to return to familiar grounds.
Robinson would be a major boost for the receiving corps, and though his addition likely wouldn’t stop the team from targeting a pass-catcher in the draft, it would give the team a much more comfortable group for Lawrence to target heading into his second year.