A birthday, and a full stop
Allen Robinson turned 33 on Monday and used the day to close the file. The wide receiver announced his retirement on Instagram, in a post that carried a narrated video essay, after a full season out of the league.
“This birthday feels a little different. It marks not only another year, but the beginning of a new chapter,” he wrote. “To every love story, there comes a final chapter. Football gave me more than I ever could’ve imagined. It challenged me, shaped me, humbled me, and rewarded me in ways I’ll carry for the rest of my life.”
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The year that defined him
Jacksonville took Robinson in the second round of the 2014 draft. His second season answered the only question that mattered about him. He led the NFL with 14 touchdown receptions in 2015 and put up 1,400 receiving yards, a figure he never reached again across nine further seasons. That year also produced his only Pro Bowl selection.
Four years with the Jaguars turned into four with the Bears. Robinson led Chicago in receptions in 2018, 2019 and 2020, three consecutive seasons spent carrying an offence that never settled on a quarterback. It is the stretch most often used to argue that his career totals sell him short.
Eleven seasons, five teams
He finishes with 565 catches for 7,058 yards and 43 touchdowns, split between the Jaguars from 2014 to 2017, the Bears from 2018 to 2021, the Los Angeles Rams in 2022, the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2023 and the Detroit Lions in 2024. His last NFL action came in 12 games for Detroit. He did not play at all last season.
“The memories, the relationships, the victories, the lessons, they’ll stay with me forever,” he wrote. Robinson walks away with no deep playoff run to point at and a body of work his quarterbacks did almost nothing to inflate.
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