After a promising rookie season in 2022, Brian Robinson Jr. didn’t really take the expected leap in his second season. However, in his first game of the 2024 season, he put up a strong fantasy football performance with 89 total yards and a touchdown. Should fantasy managers hold onto him going forward or let him go while the value is high?
Is Brian Robinson Jr. a Sell-High After His Week 1 Performance?
The main qualifier for Robinson’s Week 1 showing is that the Tampa Bay run defense is not a particularly strong one. Even so, there are plenty of reasons to be encouraged by the running back’s performance.
The Buccaneers raced out to a 13-0 lead and never looked back; they went up 23-7 and 37-14 later on before a late Washington touchdown pulled the final score back to 37-20. All of this to say, the game script wasn’t particularly conducive to running the football, as Washington was constantly playing from behind and looking to claw back into the game quickly.
In the rushing snaps they did have, however, Robinson had a major role. The team’s leading rusher was actually rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, who carried the ball 16 times for 88 yards in his pro debut. Washington ran the ball with running backs just 14 times, but 12 of those totes went to Robinson.
While Austin Ekeler was the team’s top receiving back in this game — and the top receiver overall — Robinson contributed in that area as well with three catches for 49 yards. While he certainly can’t average 16.3 yards per reception every week, tying for the team lead in targets is a big deal in terms of his role going forward.
Washington’s offense with Daniels at the helm looks completely different than it did last year with Sam Howell. The top two receivers were running backs, which can only be a good thing for Robinson, even if Ekeler came out slightly on top in that area. It’s also clear that new offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury trusts Robinson as his lead back, so he could receive a huge workload in more run-heavy games.
With Daniels claiming the headlines as much as he did, there’s probably not enough wind in Robinson’s sails to justify trading him unless a phenomenal offer comes your way. Instead, hang onto him and continue putting him in the lineup, as he should be an integral piece of a new-look offense that showed enormous potential in its first showing.