It always piques my curiosity to see an old friend find a new football home.
But this one stopped me in my tracks.
ESPN’s Field Yates tweets the Detroit Lions are signing wide receiver Allen Robinson to their practice squad. Robinson was part of the wide range of cuts made by the New York Giants on Tuesday en route to the team trimming its roster from 90 players to 53.
This counts as a homecoming for Robinson. The Detroit native played at St. Mary’s Prep before leaving for Penn State before making stops with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Chicago Bears, Los Angeles Rams, and Pittsburgh Steelers between 2014-23. Robinson had solid runs in Jacksonville (a Pro Bowler in 2015 on the strength of 1,400 receiving yards and a league-leading 14 touchdowns) and with the Bears (back-to-back seasons with 1,100+ receiving yards). But things haven’t been the same for A-Rob after a clunker of a year on the Franchise Tag with Chicago in 2021 (410 yards, 1 TD) and two sub-par seasons in 2022 with the Rams (339 yards, 3 TD) and Steelers (280 yards, 0 TD).
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Allen Robinson seeks another chance in Detroit
As it turns out, former Bears General Manager Ryan Pace was right not to extend Allen Robinson. It’s not as if he didn’t try. But just like there is no crying over spilled milk, there isn’t much to be done regarding failed extension attempts. Whether Pace was heady or lucky (or both) is irrelevant. What’s done is done. And since Robinson’s departure, Pace’s replacement has done a remarkable job in building a wide receiver’s room with talent, upside, and potential. Kudos to Ryan Poles for modernizing the Bears on that front.
As for Robinson’s new team, it feels as if that squad is just throwing stuff at a wall and hoping something sticks.
Surely, the Lions — who showed interest in March 2022 when Allen Robinson left as Chicago a free agent — think there is a non-zero chance the 2015 Pro Bowler can turn it around in Detroit. Otherwise, Detroit would not have taken a flier on the veteran as a practice squad placeholder. Then again, it isn’t as if the Lions have much of a choice.
The collection of receivers beyond Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams is so thin that Detroit was left to pivot to rolling the dice on veterans such as Allen Robinson and Tim Patrick and hoping the team rolls a winning hand. As someone who watched the Bears try building a WRs room that way, I feel like I know how this movie ends before it even gets going.