GMENHQ Fantasy Football Spotlight: Week Four Sleeper Allen Robinson
Credit: Phil Sears-USA TODAY Sports
Week 4 of the NFL season is upon us and to fantasy football players around the world that means the first week they have to deal with bye weeks for their players. Unfortunately, the bye weeks come swinging out of the gate this year with six teams being off, including some of the leagues top offenses (i.e Broncos & Bengals). So for those owners who might have players such as Demaryius Thomas, Percy Harvin, Wes Welker, A.J. Green, or any of the other multitude of startable wide receivers who are out this week, you might really want to pay some extra attention to this fantasy sleeper post.
So, without further ado, my week 4 fantasy football sleeper is Allen Robinson of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Okay, right about now you are probably saying to yourself, why the heck is he recommending a player on one of the leagues worst offenses for my fantasy team. Well, I believe the Jaguars switch at quarterback this week to rookie Blake Bortles, this years top quarterback taken in the NFL draft, will be a big positive to the value of not only Robinson, but all of the Jaguars offensive skill players. Let’s be completely honest, the fact that Chad Henne was a starting quarterback is pretty sad, the guy just doesn’t have what it takes.
Allen Robinson is a super talented rookie who the Jaguars picked in the second round of this year’s draft. At 6’3, 220lbs, Robinson has prototypical size of a NFL receiver and should be a big time redzone threat, which means he should have very good touchdown potential for fantasy football.
As I mentioned above, I believe Bortles will be a boon to Robinson’s fantasy value. Bortles came off the bench to replace Henne last week, and in his limited time he targeted Robinson a whopping 8 times. With fellow rookie, Marqise Lee ruled out, Robinson should spend most his time as the WR2 for the Jaguars, battling just Cecil Shorts III and yet another rookie, Allen Hurns, for targets.
One concern for Robinson is the Chargers pass defense has been very stout so far this year. However, I expect the Jaguars to be down early and will most likely need to put up a lot of passes to try and keep pace with Phillip Rivers and company on the opposite side.
For all of you dynasty football fanatics out there, you know who you are, I also believe Robinson can be a solid play in that format, especially as a flier in tournaments. Over at DraftKings Robinson is an affordable $4,400 allowing you to splurge on a stud such as Calvin Johnson. At FanDuel Robinson is a bit more costly at $5,100, but still offers solid value if he hits today.
Rookie wide receivers can be a crap shoot in fantasy, but I am betting Allen Robinson can be a solid WR3, borderline WR2 or flex option in this heavy bye week. Fantasy Pros ECR, which combines the rankings of a number of fantasy experts, has Robinson ranked 41st in non-ppr (point per reception) and 38th in ppr leagues. Personally, I think Robinson should be closer to 30th in rank this weekend. Nothing is absolute when it comes to fantasy football and Robinson can certainly end up being invisible, but I am still betting on him to have breakout performance today.