New York Jets: Robby Anderson's confidence is good, cocky is dangerous

At the recent uniform reveal, New York Jets wide receiver Robby Anderson was budding with confidence. He needs to be careful not to become cocky though.

April 4, the New York Jets hosted their new uniform reveal. It was a night for fans to come to New York, party, or watch on the live stream, catch a few laughs from J.B. Smoove and finally find out what all of the uniform hype was all about.

Take a look at our review of the uniforms here.

Well, that night wasn’t only about the uniforms. For the media that was in attendance, they had a chance to talk to some of the team’s major players.

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Sam Darnold spoke, and of course everyone listened up. C.J. Mosley spoke with the media for the first time as a member of the Jets.

We also heard from wide receiver Robby Anderson, who seemed very comfortable in the spotlight on Thursday night.

Anderson has gotten the reputation as a guy that can only run go routes. They say that Anderson can only take the top off of a defense.

He is coming off a bit of a down year. Anderson peaked with 941 yards and seven touchdowns in 2017.

2018 saw him put up 752 yards and six touchdowns. Things picked up as the season went along as his chemistry with Darnold improved.

Now back to the reputation. Does Anderson have that reputation because it is true, or because coaches haven’t used him correctly? According to Anderson, the coaches did play into the problem (per Darryl Slater of NJ.com):

"“That’s what I’ve been waiting for,” Anderson said. “It’s frustrating when you know your capabilities, and you know that you should be an at least 10-targets-a-game receiver, because you know the impact you have on the game. And that’s not given to you. Now I have a coach that’s going to utilize me as a player, not just make me run straight down the field."

I have a different take on this than most. Let me explain.

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Being confident is one thing. Being confident is good. Wide receivers need to be confident. If they aren’t, they are going to get eaten alive by defensive backs. They have to believe that they are going to beat the man across the line from him.

Robby Anderson is clearly a confident player. He believes he can have a big impact on the game and isn’t afraid to talk about it. He also isn’t afraid to call out the old coaching staff.

Which leads me to what I don’t like.

Confident is good but becoming cocky is dangerous. What Anderson doesn’t need to become is a “diva”. It’s the reason why the Jets wanted no part of Antonio Brown. They don’t need that type of personality.

When you start naming a specific number of targets you expect to get, you potentially hit a bad place. What if that doesn’t happen? Will he get on Darnold’s case? What about the new coaching staff? He seems to be OK with publicly talking about coaching.

Anderson is a talented player but he needs to remember who he is. He is a UDFA that is still working on his reputation in this league. Don’t talk like a guy that has ten 1,000 yard seasons under your belt.

It may not be a big problem. I am just saying that Anderson needs to be careful and control this. Don’t become a guy that is cocky.

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New York Jets: Robby Anderson’s confidence is good, cocky is dangerous

By Alan Schechter | Apr 7, 2019

At the recent uniform reveal, New York Jets wide receiver Robby Anderson was budding with confidence. He needs to be careful not to become cocky though.

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