Washington Commanders running back Brian Robinson Jr. started from behind the eight ball last season, but once he got back on the field, his talent was noticeable.
Missing the first four games of his rookie season due to the carjacking incident, Robinson Jr. quickly established himself as a key member of Scott Turner's offense.
But now, under new coordinator Eric Bieniemy, Robinson Jr. is adding more strings to his bow and is focused on becoming a more reliable pass-catcher. And that makes Bieniemy happy, really happy.
“Brian's a football player, don't get me wrong, he's a hell of a runner," Bieniemy said. "We want the most complete football player to happen to play at every position to be their best. It helps tremendously when you have a player and a person like that that's willing to do it all, because now that just helps diversify your offense and what you do.”
In his rookie season, Robinson Jr. only caught nine passes, but he did amass 60 yards and a touchdown, while three of his nine catches went for first downs.
During his two preseason outings against the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens, Robinson Jr. has eight carries for 38 yards as he works his way up to game speed.
In Game 2 against Baltimore, it was the pass-catching ability that Bieniemy was speaking about that was noticeable as Robinson caught four passes for 17 yards as he looks to become a proper dual-threat running back.
While his catching ability is improving, Robinson Jr. is, first and foremost, a running back. His 797 rushing yards from his rookie season might not seem like much, but that was in just 12 games (started nine).
If we take his average rushing yards per game (66.4) for the full season, Robinson Jr. would have had 1,129 rushing yards in his rookie year.
So the talent as a runner is there, Bieniemy clearly sees Robinson Jr.'s ability as an option in the passing game as well.
For second-year quarterback Sam Howell, having a running back he can rely on in both the run and pass game could do wonders as he looks to get settled into life as an NFL starter.
Be comfortable with being uncomfortable, that's the mantra coming from Bieniemy, and it looks like Robinson Jr. is getting comfortable being a dual-threat running back.
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