How did every NFL team miss James Robinson?

Undrafted free agent James Robinson is making the rest of the NFL pay for letting him go undrafted

There were 255 players selected in the 2020 NFL Draft, and James Robinson was not one of them.

The Jacksonville Jaguars had 12 of those selections, and didn’t think it necessary to spend one of them on Robinson. Little did they know that just few months later, they’d be choosing him over Leonard Fournette, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2017 draft.

Robinson stole the starting job in the Jags’ backfield and hasn’t looked back, racking up 339 yards of total offense and three touchdowns through the first three games of the season.

He’s already looking like a league-winner for fantasy football owners who were clever enough to snatch him off the waiver wire before the season:

His success likely comes as no surprise to anyone who faced him in college. A first-team FCS All-American in 2019, Robinson rushed for 1,899 yards and 18 touchdowns as a senior. For his four-year career with the Redbirds, Robinson averaged over 1,100 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns per season, rushing for nearly 100 yards per game.

Still, his impressive college resume wasn’t for the 5-9, 219-pounder to impress the NFL, at least not enough to warrant a selection on draft weekend. Instead, the Jags hit the jackpot of undrafted free agency.

So much for the whole “inferior competition” argument about those FCS players.

While there will be those who still believe that you have to spend an early draft pick to find a difference-maker at running back, Robinson is just the latest example of the theory that productive backs can be found without investing a draft pick at all.

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