Allen Robinson is a top candidate to bounce back and excel in 2017

After making the Pro Bowl in his second season, Allen Robinson is looking to bounce back in year 4 from a down 2016 campaign.

Several players on the Jacksonville Jaguars disappointed in 2016, with a majority of the team’s wholesale collapse on the shoulders of the offense. While quarterback Blake Bortles certainly sits front and center as the main reason for the staggering regression on offense, he isn’t alone.

Bortles ascended in 2015 as an emerging star partly because of the strong play by his receivers – Allen Hurns and Allen Robinson. Both players also underperformed in 2016, and Robinson’s struggles in particular were discouraging given the tools he has.

Jason La Canfora over at CBS Sports put together his list of the top candidates to bounce back after a tough season in 2016, and he identified the talented Jaguars receiver as one of the most likely players to recover:

"Allen Robinson, WR, JaguarsThere may not have been another prominent player who despite avoiding major injury in 2016, and staying with his current team with familiar teammates, still regressed the way Robinson did. In 2015, he was flirting with joining the NFL’s truly elite receivers, catching 80 balls for 1,400 yards and 14 TDs. Sure, some of it was in garbage time — that’s how Blake Bortles rolls — but it was eye-popping stuff.While Bortles was nothing short of awful in 2016 — even in garbage time — it’s hard to fathom Robinson mustered 517 fewer receiving yards and eight fewer scores last season. Tom Coughlin knows how to develop receivers, though, and Bortles knows this is his last chance. The Jags will have a run game in the upcoming season and a more balanced offense. There is nowhere for Robinson to go but up, and I expect a return to something closer to his 2015 output."

La Canfora spews out the tired and misleading 2015 garbage time argument again, but most of his other commentary is fine. In reality, it would be shocking if Robinson didn’t have a strong 2017 season solely on the merit of his talent. Robinson showed he is capable of being number one receiver in 2015. If he doesn’t put together another solid statistical season in 2017, it will be a huge disappointment.