Content available exclusively for subscribers
So far, this move hasn’t worked out that well.
The NFL issued a statement today:
“Rashard Robinson of the New York Jets has been suspended without pay for the first four games of the 2018 regular season for violating the NFL Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse. Robinson will be eligible to return to the Jets’ active roster on Monday, October 1 following the team’s September 30 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Robinson is eligible to participate in all preseason practices and games.”
On October 31, 2017, the Jets traded a fifth-round pick to San Francisco for Robinson. Then, in December, he was pulled over in East Hanover, New Jersey and police found “THC infused Peanut Budda Buddah Candy” in Robinson’s possession.
Robinson has a lot of talent, but also trouble has followed him around. At LSU, he was suspended in 2014 due to a failed drug test and poor academics.
Then, in 2015, he was arrested for unauthorized entry into a teammate’s apartment and was thrown out of school.
It’s unclear how he behaved in San Francisco, but we know the 49ers soured on him because he committed too many penalties.
So they traded him to the Jets, and he got arrested two months later.
Jets GM Mike Maccagnan has taken a lot of criticism over this trade.
“Mike Maccagnan usually has a winning touch when it comes to acquiring veteran players in trades, but he really blew it with Rashard Robinson,” wrote ESPN’s Rich Cimini on January 10.
I don’t mean this as a shot, but it’s clear the Jets aren’t a program obsessed with character. Look, I’m not looking to be flippant, I’m just basing this on the record. Five players have been arrested in the last year and they’re all still with the team – LB Dylan Donahue, WR Robby Anderson, Robinson, TE Chris Herndon and LB Kevin Pierre-Louis. They kind of take a Father Flanagan (pictured above) approach. They believe in second and third chances.
Maccagnan and his right-hand man Brian Heimerdinger, who has a lot of power, clearly are willing to roll the dice on players with issues who they think can help the Jets.
Robinson has a lot of talent. There is a reason the 49ers picked him in the 2016 fourth-round, even after he was thrown out of LSU. He’s a tall, fast, athletic cornerback with loose hip to change direction. He has ideal tools but needs to polish.
I view this suspension as another free roster-exemption, like the two-game suspension of ArDarius Stewart. Robinson was on the roster bubble, but this is a way to keep him around without taking up a roster spot, and if they need a cornerback in Week Five, Robinson will be available.
The Jets’ cornerback situation is a fluid one. They have Trumaine Johnson and Morris Claiborne as the starters, but after that, who knows? Well actually we do know that Buster Skrine will be handed the nickel-back job because he’s beyond reproach with the Jets’ decision-makers, but after that, who knows? There is talent in the room, but not a lot of proven talent after Johnson and Claiborne.
So Robinson coming back in Week Five could be help to the Jets.
If he gets his act together.
July 25, 2018
Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Thursday.