New York Post -- I was not at every Jets practice in training camp this summer, but at the ones I did attend, there was one player who stood out almost every time because he made at least one eye-opening play every day.
I remember looking at the roster to see who No. 83 was: Robby Anderson, an undrafted rookie free agent who went to Temple. That made sense, I figured. He was on the camp roster as a good-will gesture on the part of head coach Todd Bowles, a Temple alumnus.
Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick thought the same thing — until he started throwing passes to Anderson.
So, too, did top receiver Brandon Marshall, who actually met Anderson last January at a fitness training facility he owns in Florida, where Anderson went to prepare for a possible tryout with an NFL team.
“The first time I saw him was at our facility in Florida before the draft. I saw this frail, skinny kid walk in with his uncle,” Marshall recalled. “I thought, ‘This kid had no chance.’ Then, when [the Jets] picked him up and I saw him, I was like, ‘This kid still has no chance.’ He just didn’t look like a receiver. He didn’t look like he does now.”
Now Anderson occupies a locker right next to Marshall’s. Talk about an unlikely journey.
The 6-foot-3, 190-pound beanpole has 22 catches for 270 yards as a No. 4 receiver and — with his blazing speed (he ran a 4.28 in the 40-yard dash at his pre-draft pro day) — he has shown potential to be the deep threat the Jets’ offense has been lacking for too long.
Fitzpatrick, because he missed most of the Jets’ offseason workouts while embroiled in a contact squabble, did not practice with Anderson until training camp. And, before the first summer practice, he recalled “people telling me, ‘Keep your eyes on No. 83.’ ”
With Anderson having since switched from No. 83 to No. 11, opposing defensive coordinators are keeping an eye on No. 11. Anderson made one of the best plays of the game in the Jets’ 9-6 loss to the Rams last Sunday, hauling in a 52-yard pass from Bryce Petty to keep a 99-yard scoring drive alive.
“The three things that got me right away were: He’s fast, he has unbelievable hands and his mentality,” Fitzpatrick said. “There is this quiet confidence and swagger about him, like he belongs, even though he’s an undrafted rookie.’’
Anderson is, indeed, soft-spoken, but he is confident in his abilities.
When the topic of being undrafted and not even being invited to the NFL Scouting Combine came up, Anderson didn’t shy away from taking a playful jab at those who ignored him.
“They didn’t let me go because they didn’t want me to break the clock,” he said, referring to his speed. “And I would have.”
Asked why he went undrafted, Anderson said, “I’ve been trying to figure out the same thing. I had a good college career, ran a 4.2. I was not a bad college football player by any means at all. Sometimes it happens. Maybe one day I’ll find out why.”
The likely reason was his dismissal from his junior year at Temple because he was academically ineligible.
He returned home to Florida, went to community college in Orlando, got his act together, returned to Temple for his senior year and caught 70 passes for 939 yards and seven TDs.
“I tell my mom all the time I’m kind of happy that happened because it made me who I needed to be. It made me grow up and become a man,” Anderson said. “My mindset is just because I came in undrafted, I wasn’t going to use that as an excuse to be mediocre. I didn’t let that defeat me.”
It was when Anderson lit up the Redskins during the preseason with six catches for 131 yards and a long TD that he really started drawing attention to himself.
“There’s a lot of guys that flash in shorts, but when he went out and did it in the preseason games, that’s when everybody kind of took notice,” offensive coordinator Chan Gailey said. “I think he has a chance to be a very good receiver before it’s over with.”
Marshall added: “He’s gone from this kid looking like he had no chance to this kid looking like his upside is out of this world.”
