Dynasty League Rookie Prospect: Mississippi St. RB Josh Robinson

Nov 8, 2014; Starkville, MS, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs running back Josh Robinson (13) carries during the first quarter against the UT Martin Skyhawks at Davis Wade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

For this prospect review, I will be talking about Mississippi State Running Back Josh Robinson. I really didn’t know much about Robinson before I started researching him. I watched a little bit of him during the season, but it wasn’t in depth. I was talking with some other draft enthusiasts on Twitter and some of them had Robinson ranked high amongst the rookie RBs, which made me intrigued. I spent an entire day watching film and reading up on Robinson and I came away impressed. Robinson is 5’9 and 215 pounds and he is very thick. He carries a lot of his thickness in his legs. His legs are a lot like tree trunks. Along with massive legs, Robinson is very good at getting his pad level low while running through the running lanes, and he’s very hard to tackle. Most of the time he does not go down with first contact. He is always falling forward when he gets tackled, which turns the little 3 yard gains into 4 and 5 yard gains. For being as thick as he is, Robinson is very explosive. He is a muscular bowling ball running at a high speed causing cataclysmic collisions while running through the holes. Robinson is very tough to tackle once he gets rolling, because mass x acceleration = force, and Robinson is very powerful. Robinson is very good at moving laterally and keeping balance while making his cuts, and he is shifty in the open field for a guy his size. Robinson is great in short yardage and around the goal line because he’s a determined runner and he’s a quick decision maker, so he rarely gets caught dancing in the back field trying to pick a running lane.

The negatives to Josh Robinson is that he has only one year of relevant college production, which was this year. Robinson’s junior season, where he rushed for 1,203 yards 11 TDs and caught 28 passes for 370 yards 1 TD. He was redshirted for most of his freshman season, and his sophomore season he was the back up to RB LaDarius Perkins. Perkins went undrafted during last year’s draft.

The question here is why Robinson was not able to overcome Perkins for the starting RB spot? Perkins isn’t an incredible prospect. Another question about Robinson is how good is he as a receiver? On film he lined up as a receiver a few times and he caught a couple balls, and he looked like he has the capabilities of being an efficient pass catcher in the NFL. He still has a limited sample size of catching passes during his college career. Robinson is a solid pass protector and he’s not afraid to mix it up with linemen, and he’s not going to get pulled from passing downs from not being able to protect the quarterback.

I like Robinson a lot. He reminds me of a downgraded version of Marshawn Lynch and Isiah Crowell. I like the combination of his explosiveness and his size, and I believe it will help him be effective in the NFL. He doesn’t possess elite top end speed, but he has the athletic burst to break into the 2^nd level of the defense, which is good enough to be effective in the NFL. I can see him get drafted anywhere in between the 2^nd round and the 4^th round. I think a lot of dynasty owners are going to sleep on Robinson because he is not a well-known prospect, and he should fall in a lot of rookie drafts. I can see him being drafted anywhere from the late 1^st to the early 3^rd in rookie drafts. I like Robinson a lot, and I will be considering him in many of my rookie drafts.

Follow me on Twitter @bmatz08 for information, philosophy, and trade analysis pertaining to dynasty football.

Next: Prospect Watch: RB Jeremy Langford

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