Toby Gerhart is a Stronger Receiver Than Denard Robinson

Toby Gerhart hasn’t gotten a lot of love from us Jags fans. This largely stems from his inability to be the runner we all expected him to be. Instead, we’ve been treated to some strong running from Denard Robinson, which is a blessing to get the opportunity to watch and likely would not have come about without Gerhart’s poor running early in the season and subsequent injury.

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Now, with both backs healthy, the Jaguars are able to feature Toby Gerhart and Denard Robinson through their strengths and what they bring to the table in different situations. This has led to an increase in Robinson’s attempts running the ball and Gerhart’s targets in the receiving game.

Gerhart in particular has been quite excellent in the receiving game.

Robinson and Gerhart are 10th and 11th among halfbacks (with at least 25% of snaps) in percentage of targeted passes caught. They come down with the ball 88.5% and 88.2% of the time, respectively. From there, their productivity varies. Gerhart takes off in comparison to Robinson, amassing 10.3 yards per reception, compared to Robinson’s 5.4. Robinson’s average per reception is a bit low (55th) while Gerhart dominates most of the competition at running back, posting the seventh highest average per reception.

Robinson has some ground to make up in that aspect.

Gerhart also outdoes Robinson in yards after the catch. He is the best running back in the league after he catches a ball, amassing an impressive 12.4 yards after the catch. That’s greater than his average yards per reception, suggesting that he is taking off at or behind the line of scrimmage and taking off. He has the shortest long reception (26 yards) of anybody in the top five in that statistic. Robinson, by comparison, is averaging just 8.8 yards after the catch (24th in the league).

While it may be disheartening to hear, with averages like this, it’s worth throwing the ball to Gerhart on screens and flats even if it looks like nothing might happen and it seems like an easy out for rookie quarterback Blake Bortles. The Jags have a consistent threat to turn the ball upfield and pick up around 10 yards any time he get the ball tossed his way.

Gerhart may not be the best running back in the league, but he is an excellent receiver out of the backfield. Maybe moving all those blockers out of his way just helps him steamroll the opposition. Robinson is pretty good too, though it’s now a bit more obvious why Gerhart gets a few more snaps each game.