From lighting up the Rams with 7 TDs to disappearing in San Francisco, Robinson’s red-zone silence sparks doubts over Lynch’s $9.5M gamble.QQ
The San Francisco 49ers have gotten fairly solid production from their wide receivers after there were a lot of concerns about the group’s depth coming into the season.
However, Demarcus Robinson has been something of a bust so far.
General manager John Lynch signed him to a two-year, $9.5 million contract in the offseason knowing in all likelihood he was going to miss the first three games of the season due to a suspension stemming from a 2024 DUI, so he knew it was a gamble by signing him.
Robinson did end up getting suspended for three games, and since he has returned from his suspension, he has not been all that effective.
In 10 games played, he has caught 13 passes on 25 targets for 163 yards with his longest reception of the year being a 31-yard catch. Those numbers are not completely abysmal, but the Niners have to have been expecting more when they signed him based on the numbers he put up last season.
In 2024 with the Los Angeles Rams, Robinson started all 17 games and had a career-high 505 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. The hope was that he could be an effective red-zone target for quarterback Brock Purdy, but that just has not been the case. Robinson has no touchdowns this season and has been used fairly sparingly as of late.
He has essentially been sharing time with Kendrick Bourne as San Francisco’s No. 3 wide receiver, but neither player has seen much action as of late, especially Bourne, since he was a favorite of quarterback Mac Jones.
Jauan Jennings has been Purdy’s primary target since returning from injury. This makes sense since the two have chemistry dating back to Purdy’s first three seasons, and Jennings can always go up and fight for the ball and seems to always come up with the goods on third down.
Ricky Pearsall has not done much since returning from his knee injury, but if he can get on track and get on the same page as Purdy, then the offense could reach a new level.
There is still time for Robinson to become more of a factor, but it does seem like most of the offense is going to go through running back Christian McCaffrey, tight end George Kittle, and Jennings and Pearsall.
Maybe Robinson can become more of a factor if opposing defenses succeed at taking some of those weapons away going forward.
