Ian Rapoport discusses James Robinson situation, Urban Meyer’s eyebrow raising season with Jags
The Jacksonville Jaguars have been a hot topic in the NFL headlines this week, but it’s once again for the wrong reasons. The team fell to the Los Angeles Rams in a blowout game that ended with a 37-7 final, but that wasn’t even the topic that fans left Sunday talking about.
Instead, the Jags were a hot topic for their suspicious handling of running back James Robinson, who the staff took off the field for 16 and 20 consecutive plays in the Jags’ last two games. Things got more interesting when Robinson had an appearance on “Jags Report Live” with Brent Martineau and Dan Hicken and told both hosts of the show that he felt the team benched him.
As a result many fans and even the team’s franchise quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, voiced their support for Robinson, who Meyer believes isn’t playing his best right now due to heel and knee injuries.
On Thursday, one more important football figure joined the conversation in NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport after being asked about the situation on “The Pat McAfee Show.” And while he didn’t seem to exactly know what the future holds, he mentioned that he felt 2021 was a bizarre one for the Jags under Meyer.
“I get it he fumbled, okay, but to have your best player benched and then have your quarterback come back and say ‘That is a guy we need on the field.’ I don’t know, it’s not alarming, but it’s not a situation you get all the time,” Rapoport said.
And a rookie quarterback coming in and saying ‘This coaching decision maybe wasn’t right, we need this guy on the field.’ I was surprised by this and there has been a couple things with the Jaguars which sort of raised my eyebrows. I still think there is a chance that they are okay, but it has been a difficult season and a learning curve for Urban Meyer. A real steep learning curve.”
Rapoport is right, it feels like Lawrence’s chat with the staff is something that a rookie hasn’t had to do anywhere else, and the fact that it had to happen isn’t a good look for the coaches. However, Lawrence and the staff all have claimed that everyone is now on the same page about Robinson’s situation, but ultimately time will tell if that’s truly the case.
The 2-10 Jags have five games remaining and will have very little chances to win in them without Robinson getting the proper workload as the offense has several of their top skill players on injured reserve. That said, if things don’t change against the Tennessee Titans in terms of Robinson seeing the field more, the Jags’ staff could have a big issue on their hands as it would not only hurt their chances of winning, but potentially cause a rift between the staff and players.
