Jets wide receiver Robby Anderson may be on the verge of a breakout season. In 2017, Anderson was targeted 114 times and caught 63 balls for 941 yards and 7 touchdowns. Those numbers dipped across the board in 2018. A year ago, Anderson was targeted 94 times and caught 50 balls for 752 yards and 6 touchdowns.
Anderson indicates without saying it that Jeremy Bates was to blame and he’s fired up to play for Adam Gase:
“That’s what I’ve been waiting for,” Anderson said, via Brian Costello of the New York Post. “It’s frustrating when you know your capabilities. You know that you should be at least a 10-targets-a-game receiver because you know the impact you have on the game and that’s not given to you. You’ve proven that. Now, I have a coach that’s going to utilize me as a player and not just make me run straight down the field.”
“Look at my second year [2017], I wasn’t just running straight down the field,” Anderson said. “I was getting the ball in my hands and getting touches and getting momentum and opening things up for other people and we were putting up points. Last year was hard. I was kind of put into a box. I know this year it’s going to be lights out.”
Gase will be the 4th different play caller that Anderson has had in his upcoming 4-year career. The hope is that Anderson can become a true number one wide receiver with Gase. There is a small problem with his quote, however. The former Temple product claims that he wants 10 targets per game. Only Julio Jones, Davante Adams, Antonio Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and DeAndre Hopkins received at least 10 targets in every game. Anderson obviously isn’t in that class.
As far as Robby’s 2019 season outlook is concerned. I’m way higher on him than most. I think the Jets should absolutely be competitive. The roster still needs a lot of work but Sam Darnold finished the season on fire last year and will take a big leap this year. Darnold became much more comfortable as the season went along. Anderson finished the final 7 games of the year with 55 targets. I expect that he will snag his fair share of home run balls in 2019.
