Fantasy football enthusiasts who rode Jacksonville Jaguars rookie running back James Robinson's breakout season all the way to the playoffs were scrambling for a replacement this week.
The Jaguars confirmed Robinson will miss Sunday's contest against the Chicago Bears, officially due to an ankle injury.
Robinson did not practice this week after departing early from the team's Week 15 game against the Baltimore Ravens. The 22-year-old told coach Doug Marrone he wanted to play and was trending toward feeling well enough to do so, but apparently to no avail.
The undrafted rookie was also nursing a balky knee in recent weeks, likely factoring in the Jags' decision to rest the workhorse back, who emerged as a promising talent and potential franchise building block amid yet another lost season in Jacksonville.
Robinson's benching, taken in total with the curious promotion of journeyman Mike Glennon to starting quarterback over Gardner Minshew and Jake Luton, appears to signal the Jags are embracing the so-called Tank for Trevor Lawrence sweepstakes in a way that the previously winless New York Jets did not.
Gang Green stunningly knocked off the Rams in Los Angeles for their first win last week, marking one of the season's biggest upsets -- and potentially forfeiting their claim to the top overall pick in next year's draft, long expected to be the Clemson star.
The Jags and Jets each had one victory entering Week 16, with the Jaguars holding a tiebreaker for the rights to the first selection.
Robinson, a relatively unheralded prospect coming out of small FCS school Illinois State, seized the Jaguars' starting job with a strong training camp. The organization appeared to signal its faith in the 22-year-old when it cut former No. 4 overall draft pick Leonard Fournette.
The Rookie of the Year candidate and native of Rockford, Illinois, rewarded the team for its confidence, racking up over 1,000 yards on the ground and nearly 350 yards through the air, to go along with 10 combined touchdowns.
Intrepid fantasy managers who snagged Robinson off the wire or in the later rounds of drafts in the days before the season kicked off laughed all the way to the bank as the budding star far outproduced what most paid to acquire him.
Now, with Robinson on the bench against the Bears in the Jags' apparent quest to secure Lawrence, it's become clear that the Jaguars' interests and those of his fantasy owners have fully diverged.
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