Inconsistent? He had at least 7 receptions in 10 games of 12 games. The other games wer a blowout vs Kent State where he only had 3 and 5 against Michigan where he essentially won the game with his leaping grab down to the one. He also had a 30+ yard reception in 9 games of 12 games.
You just described about 10-12 guys in every draft. Go look up the NCAA's all-time reception leaders and tell me how well it correlates to NFL success.
He had back to back 1000 yard seasons. Last year he had a true freshman QB and every defense knew he was locked on Robinson. Robinson is one of the most consistent WR in the draft.
His technique is not good and he's a body catcher. Consistently. He makes a basket with his forearms. Doesn't inspire confidence in his ability to be a possession receiver.
I don't know where you're getting that Robinson is not an athlete. His 40 wasn't great at the combine but all his other tests were near the top. Great vertical, broad jump, and shuttle times. At his pro day he ran 4.48 in the 40. 42 inch vertical, 10'11" broad jump and 6.54 in the 3 cone.
His 40 wasn't "not great" - it was extremely slow, among the slowest at the combine. Kelvin Benjamin ran a faster 40 at 6'5" 240. Yes, a WR so heavy scouts are talking about moving him to TE. Robinson then ran a mediocre 40 at his Pro Day, but all 40s are skewed at Pro Days, since it's their coaches and buddies timing them. Just about every prospect on Earth stunningly drops from a 4.55 to a 4.30 at his Pro Day. Besides, Robinson had to drop 12 pounds in less than a month just to run even a decent 40. That doesn't inspire confidence that he'll ever be able to get downfield, which he didn't do well on film.
What will hurt him more is his inability to explode off the line. He has a hitch to his first step, making his lack of speed even more troubling. He's a galloper who runs straight-legged; I doubt he'll ever challenge anyone deep. Besides, think about the 12 pounds he abruptly dropped for his Pro Day. Do you want a WR who's 6'3" 208? That's incredibly lanky. What happens when he packs those 12 pounds back on?
Yes, combine numbers can be misleading, though perhaps a better term would be
misunderstood or
poorly applied. This is especially prevalent when you have a blowhard expert prattling on about the 40 time of a 350-lb NT. Or more often, when you hear a prospect get lambasted for running a "pathetic" 4.52 while another gets first-round praise for running a 4.48. But normalized, position-specific workout numbers CAN tell a lot about the explosiveness and top-end speed needed at a player's position.
Combine numbers should not write a prospect's book. But they can be very valid in aligning the eyeball test with production and, ultimately, reasonable perception. In Robinson's case, he looks slow on film AND ran slow in his normalized 40. As a result, I feel fairly confident in calling him relatively slow.
There's a lot I hate about Robinson's film. His get-off sucks. He's not fast and will struggle to separate. He has poor catching technique. And I don't see him zig-zagging east-west through NFL defenses like he did against the Slow Ten. I think his best-case scenario is a mistake-prone possession guy. Maybe he'll be Nate Burleson. I'm not taking that in the 2nd and leaving someone like Adams or Latimer or Moncrief on the board.
