ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) -Red Robin’s loss was the Detroit Lions’ gain.
Cut by the team prior to the start of the 2007 season, defensive back Ramzee Robinson applied to work at one of the dining chain’s Detroit-area locations.
“You have to understand: I was unemployed. I had to help my parents with bills,” he said. “I didn’t want to jump on a plane and go tell my Mom and Dad I failed. So I had to do something. If I had to tell them, I could say, `Well, Mom, at least I still got a job.’ ‘So where you working at?’ ‘Flipping burgers at Red Robin.”’
Robinson, dubbed “Mr. Irrelevant” for being the last overall pick in the NFL draft, soon after was signed to the Lions’ practice squad.
Two years later, nobody sees him as irrelevant anymore.
d made 11 tackles at cornerback.
Pretty good for a guy who was dangerously close to getting into the restaurant business.
Now he’s back in training camp, trying to make it to a third season. Nothing’s been promised to him, so Robinson treats every practice and exhibition game as if it’s his last chance to show the coaches what he can do.
Defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham was impressed with Robinson’s physical play early in camp.
“Ramzee Robinson hit one guy under the chin, drove him to the sideline and dumped him on his back,” Cunningham said at the time. “I haven’t seen that since I was coaching in the ’90s.”
But Wednesday, Cunningham seemed to be cooling on his cornerback a bit: “Ramzee is inconsistent in the slot. He’ll make a play and you think he’s turning the corner, but a few plays later he’s back to something different.”
Still, Robinson’s fellow corners – there are eight in camp and all have NFL experience – seem to appreciate Robinson and his work ethic.
“Each year, he has gotten better and better,” said sixth-year pro Keith Smith. “Everything you ask of him, I see it done. He does a great job on special teams. On defense, he’s coming along in the nickel. As long as he keeps pushing, good things should happen for him.”
ze and speed weren’t considered ideal by NFL standards.
The Lions took a chance on him with the 255th and final overall selection in the 2007 draft, and he was honored a few months later during “Irrelevant Week,” a celebration in Newport Beach, Calif., that is headed up by former NFL player Paul Salata.
Robinson was given a VIP tour of Disneyland, rode on a yacht during a race and was awarded the annual Lowsman (think the opposite of Heisman) Trophy that is given to the final draft pick. This year’s recipient was South Carolina kicker Ryan Succop, who went 256th to Kansas City.
Robinson was told by more than a few people that he wouldn’t make it.
“That’s just human nature. When you see a guy in the situation I was in – being drafted last – and try to look on the history of it and statistics and things like that, to me that’s an average mind,” he said. “I like to think outside the box and to be open-minded. The open-minded people that see what it takes to be successful – those are the ones who’ve been rooting me on and are not surprised by my success thus far.”
He remembers how hard he worked to make the team out of training camp two summers ago and how difficult it was to get the bad news.
“I was heartbroken. I love this game a lot. To have a member of the staff tell you you’re not good enough to make this team, I’ve never had that happen to me,” Robinson said. “All I knew was, I left Alabama to come to Detroit and try to make my family proud. …
“I prayed about it and asked God to just bless me and give me another opportunity, another shot, of making the club,” he said. “I’m still here.”
Asked how much longer can he hang on, Robinson said just watch and see.
“I see myself playing 10 years in the league!”
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