It’s been a long road for Arizona Cardinals rookie defensive lineman Darius Robinson, who appears to be trending toward making his NFL debut on Sunday in Minneapolis.
Edge rusher Zaven Collins arrived in Arizona as a first-round pick in 2021, so he understands the scrutiny those players receive.
When asked Monday about what advice he gives Robinson, Collins said, “People put an expectation on you. You’ve just got to go out and do you. Whatever it is, you’ve just got to go out and keep trying every day. Come to work and put your hard hat on.”
For Robinson, that focus has been recovering from a calf injury suffered on Aug. 22 and then dealing with the loss of his mom shortly after returning to practice on Oct. 9.
After the bye, he has now participated in four consecutive practices.
“There are certain situations that you can’t control,” Collins noted. “What he’s dealing with is; it’s a mental struggle and it’s hard because he wants to be out there and playing with us and help the team. So I get to talk with him and work with him and tell him, ‘You’ve got to just work on you, just keep doing you. And there are plenty of games left for you to come back and do everything that you wanted to do. There’s nothing that’s going to stop you from that.’
“So that’s really all it is. And he’s confident as ever and he’s ready to come back and do whatever it may be, but it’s definitely tough sometimes.”
Collins is surely impressed with what he has seen from Robinson when he was able to focus on football and also recalled his early days with the Cardinals when J.J. Watt mentored him.
“Hard worker. Great athlete, Huge, massive human, but he’s smart,” Collins said of Robinson. “He studies the playbook. He asks questions all the time. He and I stay after (practice); we were working on certain pressures the other day because I rush in 3-tech on certain third-down situations as well. But he’s always asking questions, trying to figure out stuff.
“I go back, this is weird, and I’m not saying I’m on his level, but J.J. would tell me what to do and like how to think on certain things. And I’m just trying to think of what he would tell me sometimes. And I’m nowhere near him. But I’m giving advice and how to see certain things, work on certain things so it’s nice. And he’s always wanting to learn, so that’s a good thing.”
Collins also referenced the fact that he’s not that much older than Robinson…
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