Is Brian Robinson Jr. Going to be Washington’s RB1 Week 1?
Brian Robinson Jr. has had a very strong training camp and preseason performance for the Washington Commanders, who took the Tuscaloosa native 98th overall in the fourth round of the NFL Draft. So far, he's been splitting first team reps with Washington's entrenched starter, Antonio Gibson, and it hasn't taken a skilled analyst to see that he's outperformed Gibson in game action.
Robinson became the first player to score a touchdown in the history of the Commanders moniker on just his seventh NFL touch, a one-yard run right behind center Chase Roullier. On his very first, he rattled off a strong 10-yard run right up the middle. He ended up running six times for a total of 26 yards and the touchdown.
That performance on its own normally isn't enough to earn a rookie the starting spot when the incumbent starter was the sixth best back in the league last year by yardage, but Antonio Gibson has an Achilles' heel: fumbles.
Gibson's 1,037 yards may have been the sixth most in the league, but the real tale of his season was his running back leading six fumbles on the season. On just his second touch of the preseason, he fumbled deep in Commander territory and it resulted in a turnover. Robinson was immediately put in the game and Gibson did not return until the second and third stringers were in.
The following week, against the Chiefs, Robinson took the first carries of the game while Gibson was relegated to kickoff duty. Reports out of Washington have indicated that Gibson and Robinson's split of the first team reps have started to lean more heavily towards the Alabama alumnus.
While there's still one preseason game left to go and three weeks of practice before the season opener, it looks more and more likely that Robinson will be the Washington Commanders starting running back from the jump.