Moments after Brian Robinson walked out of a D.C. storefront the evening of Aug. 28, he was transported from the cusp of a dream realized to a hospital bed, where he lay in pain after suffering multiple gunshot wounds.
In a month of recovery, Brian Robinson Jr. did all he could to play again
The 23-year-old rookie out of Alabama had impressed in his first training camp with the Commanders, so much so that he was on track to play a key role on the offense alongside fellow backs Antonio Gibson and J.D. McKissic. Robinson offered a new wrinkle as a bigger-bodied, downhill runner who had rare speed for his size and a sound catching ability.
But his future changed instantly when he was shot twice, in the right hip and knee, during an armed robbery attempt.
“Once the doctors told me I would be able to play ball again, then my mind automatically clicked into what I needed to do to get myself back on the football field,” he said.
On Wednesday, roughly five weeks after the incident and ensuing surgery, Robinson practiced for the first time, moving a step closer to being activated off the non-football injury list and making his long-awaited NFL debut. Washington has up to 21 days to add him back onto the active roster, and his timetable will depend on how his body feels after resuming workouts.
It could be as soon as Sunday, when the Commanders host the Tennessee Titans at FedEx Field.
“That’s always a good indicator when a guy really gets his first real workout, is how he’s reacting the next day,” Coach Ron Rivera said. “Then, if we get into it and he practices again like he did today, then we’ll see if there’s any drop-off. We have the GPS trackers, and they’ll be able to give us the speeds just to see where they are.”
Robinson’s return to the field could be a boon for Washington’s struggling offense. It has also been a shock to the NFL world.
“Getting back on the field, having fun, being around my coaches and team again, it was just a beautiful day for me,” Robinson said.
The shooting happened shortly before 6 p.m. on the 1000 block of H Street NE. Two male assailants approached Robinson, who was able to wrestle a firearm away from one of them before the other shot him, police said. A firearm was discovered near the scene, and the stolen vehicle the suspects used to flee was recovered about four miles from FedEx Field.
Police released photos of the suspects, taken from security cameras, and asked for the public’s help in identifying them. The investigation is ongoing.
Word quickly got out to the Commanders’ front office and coaching staff that evening. Rivera was watching film of Robinson when he got the call. He told running backs coach Randy Jordan, and the two traveled together to MedStar Washington Hospital Center, where team president Jason Wright and owners Daniel and Tanya Snyder, among others, joined them.
“That was all I needed at the time was the love and the care and the respect from just the situation I was in,” Robinson said.
Many of Robinson’s teammates recalled thinking the initial reports were erroneous. They learned about the shooting primarily on social media, and they worried whether Robinson was alive, let alone whether he’d be able to recover for football.
“You just see a lot of things in life that happen to you that you can’t control … but how you respond, how you lean into the community, the support that you have, the things that you learn through those trials — that can help define you and help you grow as a human being,” wide receiver Terry McLaurin said. “ … To go through something like he has that was so unimaginable, and for him to come back on the other side and be stronger and never lose his spirit … to be a young guy with that disposition and have that outlook on life is definitely one of a kind.”
Robinson’s swift return has been an inspiration to teammates — and it has raised other theories.
“He’s half Wolverine or something,” fellow back Jonathan Williams said. “I don’t know. I didn’t know the timetable for it. I’m not a doctor. But nothing really surprises me about him.”
The bullet in Robinson’s knee avoided tendons and ligaments and didn’t fracture bone, so he was spared a more extensive recovery. He returned to the Commanders’ facility a day after surgery, walking with the aid of crutches and carrying a bag of Oreos. The rookie still had a job to do, bringing snacks for his fellow running backs.
Because the team placed Robinson on the NFI list, he was required to miss at least four games before returning to practice. But nearly two weeks after the shooting, he was back on the sideline of the team’s practice field riding a stationary bike and working with the strength and conditioning staff while the team ran through drills.
Less than two weeks after that, he was back at FedEx Field, running routes as his teammates warmed up for their Week 3 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles.
On Wednesday, Robinson was back in a helmet and pads, running through individual drills with his fellow backs and taking eight to 10 team reps, by Rivera’s estimation.
“It’s a blessing for that turnaround, to see him back out there making cuts, hitting the hole. [He’s been] to hell and back again,” Gibson said.
Robinson attempted to join the Commanders’ scout team for a couple reps, but he was told to take it slow.
“What the doctors [and trainers prescribed] was we go out, do a workout, do a couple of series on the side with the strength and conditioning staff and trainers, and then when he finished up, they would allow him to come over and work a little bit,” Rivera said. “He finished up in great shape, so he came over, and they allowed us to put him in a smattering of plays in each period. He took those plays and looked pretty good at it, and as I said, because he did so much work, we’ll see how he is tomorrow. But I think right now he’s in a good place, and for us as a football team, it’s good to see him back out there.”
One of the more promising signs Rivera witnessed were the few cuts Robinson made that required him to plant his injured leg and forcefully push off it.
“And he did,” Rivera said. “ … Sometimes guys come back from injuries, and you can see there’s a little hesitance, and if we have any hopes of them playing soon, you can’t have that hesitance. It’s funny because he started kind of gradually — I didn’t notice anything different, but it was just kind of a gradual buildup, and the more and more he did, the more and more confident I think he got.”
With the physical recovery has come a mental comeback that Robinson said taught him a few things about himself. He describes himself as “the king of adversity” and said this latest obstacle was the toughest he’s faced.
“I’m definitely ambitious, and I’m going to fight for anything I believe in,” he said. “If I believe that I can return back to the field and do what I need to do to the level that I want to do it, then that’s the steps I’m taking to put myself in that position.”
“I want to be a football player,” he added. “I want to be here.”
Robinson said he’s unsure whether he’ll play Sunday. He refuses to look too far ahead. Just weeks after experiencing his lowest point in that hospital bed in D.C., he was back on a rain-soaked field feeling stronger than he has before.
“My passion for this game runs so deep,” he said. “ … It’s been a long five weeks, but it’s a lot of work. We put in a lot of work over that time. I can say I did everything I needed to do over that time period to make sure I was here today.”
Source: WP
