Jacksonville Jaguars Midseason Rookie Recap: Allen Hurns
By Daniel Lago
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Heading into their bye week after a brutal loss in London, the Jacksonville Jaguars are a little more than halfway through the 2014 NFL regular season. The bye week also means it’s time to step back and briefly evaluate how some of the players have performed so far. The second year into a massive rebuild, the most interesting players to look at of course are the young guys who should eventually be the foundation for this team.
Over the course of the week, we’ll be taking a look at all of the rookies playing roles for the Jaguars right now. We’ll start with the undrafted guys and work our way down all the way to the first round pick.
Let’s kick it off with arguably the most productive rookie on the roster – undrafted wide receiver Allen Hurns.
After a fairly productive career at the University of Miami, Hurns slipped through the cracks on draft day and managed to make it through all 7 rounds without a suitor. The Jaguars were fortunate enough to pick him up in undrafted free agency (almost assuredly thanks to offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch) and Hurns quickly established himself as a go-to receiver on this offense. Here are Hurns stats so far:
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After a breakout game in week 1 against the Philadelphia Eagles, Hurns settled down a bit, but he’s still been extremely productive given the expectations for an undrafted player. His 15.8 yards per catch is tops among rookies who have 30 or more catches, and his ability to make contested catches has bailed Blake Bortles out a handful of times.
Hurns has played like a rookie at times, most notably when he has a case of the drops. Early on in the season, his hands appeared to be an issue. He’s settled down and started to be more consistent catching the football, but he’s going to have to be more reliable in that respect to become a big piece of this offense.
All in all, you couldn’t really ask for more out of Allen Hurns. He’s probably been the best undrafted free agent in the NFL and one of the most productive players on the team so far this season.