What Should Be Done with Dunta Robinson in the Offseason? [F-Tagged on 2/19!]

[Keith]

I usually despise bumping up an old thread, but it probably makes sense to revisit this conversation.

Steph did a Q&A with KC Joyner on her Chron blog, and talk of Dunta surfaced.

Me: The Texans are going to have to make a decision with Dunta Robinson who is a unrestricted free agent going into this offseason. They have the option to franchise him for a year if they want more time to assess how his damaged hamstring/knee heals up more this offseason. When Robinson was in the lineup in 2008, the Texans were 7-4 and with him in the starting lineup, they were 5-1. Any thoughts about Robinson's play?

KC: "I've had good and bad things to say about Robinson over the years but in the case of a franchise tag, all I can say is look at his YPA metrics over the past five seasons:

2008 - 7.5
2007 - 8.0
2006 - 7.4
2005 - 9.3
2004 - 6.6

To put these into perspective, consider that a YPA of 7.5 or better will typically rank a cornerback in the upper half of the league. Robinson's YPA has been at or near the 7.5 mark twice, has been below it once and has been above it twice. If that's a franchise level cornerback, I'm a Pulitzer prize winner. He's worth re-signing at the right price but I wouldn't break the bank on him."

There's plenty of other discussable topics in that link (like Joyner's thoughts on Fred Bennett and Jacques Reeves), so click it if you haven't read it already.

Anyhoo, my comment was that stats are awesome, but YPA alone (including in combo with other stats) fails to account for Dunta's intangibles. I'm sure Joyner realizes this, but he's been rough on Dunta in the past, too. Good read (thanks again, Steph) and interesting info nonetheless.