Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles said on NFL Network this week that he thinks Allen Hurns and Allen Robinson give the team the best wide receiver duo in the league.
Hurns agrees with his quarterback’s assessment. Coming off a year that saw the duo combine for 144 catches, 2,431 yards and 24 touchdowns, Hurns thinks things are only going to get better as the two wideouts move into their third season with Jacksonville.
“We are the No. 1 duo in the league,” Hurns said, via ESPN.com. “You just look at what we’ve done this past season. Even though guys like [Jets wide receivers] Brandon Marshall and [Eric] Decker did a tremendous job, [Broncos wide receivers] Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, but you look at it as far as we probably had like 50 less catches combined than all of those guys and our yardage is up there. As far as touchdowns, the same thing. Last year around this time, the talk was we needed a veteran receiver or we probably needed to draft a receiver. It’s just exciting just to see how far we came and the most exciting thing about it is that was only Year 2. We’ve got time to grow.”
Both of the tandems that Hurns mentioned had more yards than the Jaguars duo and the Jets pair scored more touchdowns, but there’s little doubt that the Hurns/Robinson partnership has a place in the conversation after a big 2015. The key for them now is proving they can do it on an annual basis, which Hurns obviously believes while Bortles also said this week that he feels his chemistry with his top targets is growing this offseason.
There’s still improvement to be made on the offensive line and defense for Jacksonville to move themselves up the standings, but the emergence of their passing game is a big reason to believe that it can happen sooner rather than later.
