On the cusp of a major payday, Jets wide receiver Robby Anderson wants to show the NFL what he is capable of.
The former undrafted free agent out of Temple University burst on the scene during his second season, grabbing 63 passes for 941 yards and seven touchdowns. With a new offense and new quarterback, however, Anderson fizzled out to begin his third year. Once Sam Darnold and Anderson developed a rapport, there were more glimpses of the wideout’s star potential. Anderson finished 2018 with 50 catches for 752 yards and six touchdowns after a slow start.
Now, Anderson seems poised to put himself on the map as one of the elite playmakers at the wide receiver position. That would certainly behoove him, as this is a contract year for him.
“I would say I am working harder, understanding things and trying to find ways to get better and pushing myself to new limits,” Anderson told reporters during the Jets’ three-day mandatory minicamp. “Things that I thought was good, like the first couple of years, I used to think 100 yards was good. For what I want to be, elite, top-five wide receiver, that’s not really good.”
The Jets gave Anderson a second-round tender back in February. He signed the tender without complaint in mid-May and now seems excited for a new role in Adam Gase’s offense.
Anderson has been labeled a deep threat and rightfully so. He is one of the best wideouts in the NFL when it comes to the go route, but from Anderson’s standpoint, he wants to show what else he is capable of. The plan is for him to have more freedom in Gase’s offense.
“He’ll let me be an all-around receiver and give me those targets and let me play the game I could play,” Anderson said of Gase. “Everybody knows what I’m capable of, I’ve done what I can do. But I feel like he’s going to let me do it on a consistent basis and give me the workload that I’m working for and the workload that I deserve and I’m capable of.”
Over the past three seasons, Gase saw what Anderson was capable of, scoring three touchdowns against his Miami Dolphins in six games. Like Anderson, he feels the Jets will be better off letting their fourth-year WR play a variety of roles on offense, rather than boxing him up.
“We want to think of ways to get him the ball, ways to create variety in his routes,” Gase told reporters at the NFL Combine. “Instead of just doing one or two things, maybe we can open that up to five, six, seven things to where he’s a threat on multiple levels, whether it be underneath, intermediate or down the field.”
