Allen Robinson will be more than ‘the other guy’ in LA Rams offense
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ramblinfan.com]
by Bret Stuter
Throughout his NFL career, LA Rams newly added veteran WR Allen Robinson has been the featured receiver. Opposing defense coordinators designed coverages to stop Robinson, or at least slow him down significantly.
Sometimes defensive backs won the day. Sometimes Allen Robinson won the day. But it was the same story: Allen Robinson would draw the toughest coverage on game day. As we know, that frequently meant his quarterback would throw elsewhere.
While that was not why Allen Robinson decided to sign with the Rams, it does have a part in what his 2022 production may look like by the season’s end. After all, in this LA Rams offense, the top receiver is Cooper Kupp. For all intents and purposes, Robinson will likely be no higher than WR2 in the Rams’ offense. That could be a huge boost to his career.
All NFL defenses try to put the best defensive backs on the football field. But the brutal economic facts mean that one defensive back will be playing at his peak, while the next defensive back on the roster is either young and getting better, or past his prime and regressing.
And that means that Robinson can work his magic.
Fire begets fire
When QB Matthew Stafford arrived at the LA Rams offense, he quickly understood that in the Rams offense, he has the chance to play meaningful football on an annual basis. As the season progressed, Stafford put the offense through its paces to learn what would and wouldn’t work as the stakes got higher.
Now, Allen Robinson is undertaking the same process that Stafford took on one year earlier. And just like Stafford, Robinson is learning the Rams’ offense quickly. Robinson is very competitive, and he knows that the better he plays, the better the Rams play as a team.
That competitive fire in Robinson has reignited once more.
Robinson is not on the Rams roster to go through the motions. He is absorbing everything that he can learn about the Rams’ offense. For starters, that ensures that he will be prepared to play on game day. But secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it will afford him the chance to swap roles in the Rams offense with Cooper Kupp at times.
Robinson would love to flirt with a record-setting season. Not for the personal accolades. He simply wants to compete, and he wants to be contributing member of the Rams’ offense this year.
Robinson will likely not produce close to Cooper Kupp’s performance in 2021. But the Rams do not need him to. Instead, the Rams need a second viable offensive weapon to keep defenses guessing. Robinson can certainly do that, and that means that the Rams will have solid options for Stafford to throw to on any given play.
