Why Allen Robinson’s career numbers never produced the recognition they should have

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Why Allen Robinson’s career numbers never produced the recognition they should have

Olamilekan Ajayi · Gridiron Heroics

Tue, Aug 25, 2026 ·

4 min read

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Allen Robinson announced his retirement on Instagram on Monday, his 33rd birthday, writing that every love story reaches a final chapter. He last appeared in an NFL game in 2024, playing 12 games for Detroit, and went unsigned through all of 2025.

He wrote:

"As I reflect on another year of life, I find myself especially grateful; not just for where I am, but for the journey that brought me here. This birthday feels a little different. It marks not only another year, but the beginning of a new chapter. To every love story, there comes a final chapter. Football gave me more than I ever could've imagined. It challenged me, shaped me, humbled me, and rewarded me in ways I'll carry for the rest of my life.

"I came, I saw, I conquered and I leave with nothing but gratitude."

He arrived as a second-round pick out of Penn State in 2014 after 177 catches for 2,479 yards and 17 touchdowns across three seasons in Happy Valley. He finishes with 565 receptions for 7,058 yards and 43 touchdowns across 11 seasons with Jacksonville, Chicago, the Rams, Pittsburgh, and Detroit with one Pro Bowl selection in 2015.

In his second season, catching passes from Blake Bortles , Robinson caught 80 balls for 1,400 yards at 17.5 per reception with 14 touchdowns. That tied for the NFL lead and set a Jacksonville single-season record that still sits four scores clear of anyone else in franchise history, and he retires fifth in Jaguars history in receiving yards.

A torn ACL one game into the 2017 season, in a contract year, reset his market. Chicago signed him the following March on a three-year, $42 million deal that looked expensive for a receiver coming off a knee reconstruction and looked like a discount inside 18 months.

The Chicago years made the point twice over

Robinson caught 98 passes for 1,147 yards and seven touchdowns in 2019, then 102 for 1,250 and six in 2020, working through a quarterback rotation that ran from Mitchell Trubisky to Nick Foles and back again. He became the fifth player in Bears history to post back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, joining Curtis Conway, Marty Booker, Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery . His 22 catches of 20 or more yards in 2020 tied a franchise record, and he recorded a 20-yard reception in 14 consecutive games, the longest such run Chicago has ever had.

Chicago finished 8-8 in both seasons and Robinson went to neither Pro Bowl. Voters weigh January alongside September, and his teams supplied very little of it. He played 127 regular-season games and reached the postseason three times, starting all three, producing 18 catches for 210 yards and a touchdown in those appearances.

Rams receiver Demarcus Robinson celebrates his touchdown catch against the Saints just before the half. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Los Angeles gave him three years and $46.5 million in 2022 and traded him after one season and 33 catches, and Pittsburgh got 34 receptions for 280 yards out of him in 2023. Detroit signed him in September 2024 and he played out the year there before the market finally went quiet on him entirely.

He campaigned for a roster spot through 2025, offering his services to Kansas City, and no team signed him. He told Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press last offseason that he was weighing retirement and wanted to look back without regrets, saying he had put everything he had into the game.

"I wanted to look back and have no regrets," Robinson reportedly said. "And that's kind of where I'm at with it is that I don't have (any). I've put everything I've had into this game."

Former teammates filled in his comments on Monday, among them Allen Hurns and Calais Campbell . Robinson leaves with 7,058 receiving yards and one Pro Bowl selection to account for them, and the quarterback column on his career page covers most of the distance between those two numbers.

The Chicago years made the point twice over

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