An intriguing prospect

Morris Country – I’m very intrigued by . . .

CB Rashard Robinson, who the Jets acquired in a trade with San Francisco last week.

Good cornerbacks are very hard to find. Usually cornerbacks worth their salt don’t get out of the building via waivers or trade.

It’s a passing league, and there is a shortage of good corners. Teams usually hold on to good ones with white knuckles.

So when a team gives up on a fourth-round cornerback in his second year, you wonder what is going on.

I asked Todd Bowles a two-fold questions today about teams rarely getting rid of good corners, and what he likes about Robinson.

“I couldn’t tell you why they’re getting rid of him, but there were a couple of trades made during the deadline with some good players,” Bowles said.

Yes, there were some trades, but no others involving cornerbacks.

And it’s not like the 49ers are stacked at that position. In fact, they are pedestrian at that spot, so that makes the trade even more of an eye-brow raiser.

I think he was traded because of too many penalties, and because he was picked by the previous regime – Chip Kelly and Trent Baalke picked Robinson.

It’s kind of like the Jets keeping Juston Burris over Marcus Williams. Burris was picked by the current regime, and Williams was added by the prior brass.

And also, I think that the 49ers new brass of John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan wanted to get the attention of their struggling team.

49ers cornerback Dontae Johnson said he was “shocked” when he heard Robinson was traded.

“No one is safe, including myself,” Johnson said. “But at the end of the day, the organization and the team and staff here expect everybody to carry themselves a certain way. When it’s all said and done, I’m here to do a job and do it to the best of my abilities.”

So what does Bowles think Robinson brings to the table?

“He’s a good man-to-man corner,” Bowles said. “He has great feet. We look forward to getting him better and better and see how we can use him.”

Physically, he has a lot going for him. Fast, tall, great feet as Todd said, and very athletic. And while he’s a little lean, seeing him up close today, he is pretty well-defined in the upper body. He’s lean, but not frail, if that makes any sense.

And he’s tough, which is what you expect from kids coming out of Pompano, a hardscrabble town.

I know the Jets want to take it slow with him, but they might need him sooner rather than later.

Mo Claiborne is iffy for the next game, nursing a foot injury. If he plays, he might be limited.

But nonetheless, they have had issues at cornerback, especially late in games, and they desperately need to get to 5-5 to stay in the wildcard race.

And if the cornerback issues they have had in recent games, especially late in games, continue, they might need to go to the bullpen at corner, and use Robinson.

November 8, 2017

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