JACKSONVILLE – It really, truly is an honor.
That's how Jaguars wide receiver Allen Robinson saw being named as a Pro Bowl alternate last month. It's how he saw it when he actually made the game, and that's how he is thinking of the game as it approaches.
Robinson, who appeared on Jaguars.com LIVE Wednesday afternoon a few days before leaving for next week's 2016 Pro Bowl in Honolulu, Hawaii, said considering the other wide receivers named to the game …
Well, considering that, being in the game is just really, really cool.
"It's a special thing," Robinson said Wednesday. "When you look at the list: Antonio Brown, Julio Jones, A.J. Green, Brandon Marshall, Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson … all of these guys are probably future Hall of Famers. It's real special for this to be my second year and even to be in that category with those guys."
Robinson, a 2014 second-round selection from Penn State University, caught 80 passes for 1,400 yards and a franchise-record 14 touchdowns this past season. The 14 touchdown receptions tied with Brandon Marshall of the New York Jets and Doug Baldwin of the Seattle Seahawks for the NFL lead.
Robinson not only averaged 17.5 yards per reception – the most among receivers with 80 or more receptions – he had 677 yards on deep passes, according to the Pro Football Focus web site. That led the NFL and also led to PFF this week naming him the league's "best deep threat" for 2015.
"Coming into this season, that was my main focus: I wanted to make more big plays," Robinson said. "That was a big thing for me, to create more plays for my team. Seeing I was able to do that, that was a stepping stone for me as far as me continuing to improve my game."
Also on Wednesday:
*Robinson, as he has said several times in recent weeks, said the Jaguars' wide receivers were motivated this past season by offseason talk among observers that the team needed to sign a veteran receiver: "I think that motivated everybody in our room. That was what we heard throughout the course of last year and throughout the course of the offseason. At the end of the day, we know the plays we can make and the players we can be. That really drove us." …
*Robinson said he and Jaguars receivers will work this offseason with quarterback Blake Bortles on their own away from EverBank Field before the beginning of the official offseason program in April: "We're anxious to get back into it. For us, with us being young, our bodies can endure a little more so we have the youth to get back at it a little early and a little bit quicker." …
*Robinson said he spoke to Jaguars wide receiver Allen Hurns following Hurns' sports hernia surgery Tuesday morning: "For him, it's something he has to go through. I know for him, it's nothing too dramatic. I'm 100 percent sure he'll bounce back from that and he's 100 percent sure. He just has to take some down time – I think that will be the hardest thing for him." …
*Robinson said he knows that this past season's success will mean greater focus from defenses in 2016: "Coach Sully [wide receivers coach Jerry Sullivan] always preaches to us that, 'The better you play the better you're going to have to play.' For us in our room, we hold ourselves to a pretty high standard. We're going to get to work as soon as possible and get ready for us to have to endure what defenses may do to us."
