Wide receiver Robby Anderson has been a bright spot for the Jets offense the past few seasons, but is off to a slow start this year through four games.
The 26-year-old out of Temple University had made 155 catches for 2,280 yards and 15 touchdowns from 2016 through 2018. Including a breakout year in 2017, where he caught 63 passes on 114 targets for 941 yards and seven touchdowns.
He started 15 of the 16 games he played in during the 2017 season, and averaged 58.8 yards receiving per game with 38-year-old Josh McCown as his quarterback. So naturally, it was expected that Anderson would take another step forward when the team drafted Sam Darnold with the third overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
Anderson started nine of the 14 games he played in during the 2018 season, with Darnold starting 13 of those games. Anderson had 50 catches on 94 targets for 752 yards and six touchdowns last year. But with Darnold out the past few weeks with mono, the wideout has had very little production this season.
"It's not his fault. I mean he's open," Jets head coach Adam Gase said. "We just haven't been able to get him the ball, something's always happened. I mean he's doing a good job as far as what we're asking him to do, and we've had opportunities, we just haven't hit him on it yet."
"He's open. We just haven't been able to get the ball to him" - Gase on Robby Anderson ☀️ pic.twitter.com/lsnGPVwwUh
- Jets Videos (@snyjets) October 11, 2019
Anderson has just 11 catches on 21 targets for 131 yards this season. However, Darnold has only played in Week 1's game against the Buffalo Bills. He threw for 175 yards and one touchdown, while Anderson had three receptions for 23 yards and saw seven targets -- the most he's had in a game this season.
The Jets offense has struggled with Luke Falk at QB, with both Anderson's targets and receptions going down each game. Expect Anderson's performance to improve this week with Darnold back starting, after being cleared to play against the Cowboys in Week 6.