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Robinson Says He's Ready To Play, Right Away
by Mike Spofford, Packers.com
posted 10/17/2007
Wide receiver Koren Robinson feels that he's in the best shape of his life, and he says he's ready to help the Packers immediately, perhaps as soon as Green Bay's first game after the bye week on Monday, Oct. 29, in Denver.
"Football shape, I feel like I'm right there," Robinson said in a conference call with reporters on Wednesday, after he was officially reinstated by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell following a one-year suspension. "If I'm not there, I'm close. It should only take me a couple of practices or a game to be there. But I feel like I can come in right away and help out."
Robinson's reinstatement becomes effective on Thursday. The wide receiver joined the Packers in September 2006 but was suspended shortly thereafter for a repeat violation of the league's substance abuse policy. The suspension was for an off-field, alcohol-related incident prior to his joining the Packers.
Robinson said he was told last Sunday by Goodell he'd be reinstated after the two met in Phoenix during the Arizona Cardinals-Carolina Panthers game.
Robinson has been in Phoenix since the beginning of August working out twice a day, five days a week, to get himself in as good a shape as possible in anticipation of his reinstatement. Prior to that, he had an arthroscopic procedure done on his knee to clean up some loose cartilage, and went through a rehab program for that. He says he's at 203 pounds, down slightly from a year ago.
He has every intention of returning to the practice field on Monday, the team's first scheduled workout after the bye, and prove to the coaching staff that he can contribute immediately in the Monday night game at Denver.
"If I'm not ready to play on Monday night, then I don't know what I've been doing for the last two months down in Phoenix," said Robinson, who played four games for the Packers last season, catching seven passes for 89 yards and returning 12 kickoffs for a 21.1-yard average. "I feel like I'm ready to go, I'm in great shape. My conditioning and my wind is up. My knee is healthy, I'm healthy, my weight is down, I'm stronger, faster. I don't know what else I could have done. So I feel like I am ready to go.
"Even if I'm returning kicks or if I'm the fourth receiver, I'm willing to do whatever the team wants me to do. But I feel like I'm ready to go."
Robinson also says he is a changed man. During the past year he has spent time in jail for the alcohol-related offenses and gone through extensive counseling for alcoholism. As a repeat violator of the league's substance abuse policy, Robinson's current reinstatement is his last chance, and another misstep will result in lifetime banishment from the league.
Robinson, a first-round draft pick of the Seahawks in 2001 who played four years in Seattle and one in Minnesota before coming to Green Bay, has complied with all the conditions of his suspension in order to be reinstated, and he says he isn't about to step off that straight and narrow path now.
"It should be my last chance, and I'm cool with that," he said. "I feel like I'm in a good place, that this is the only chance I need. I'm really trying to start over, start fresh, start new, trying not to look back but trying not to forget.
"I know this is my last chance, and if I do anything to jeopardize that, then I didn't deserve it in the first place. I know what I have in my hand. I know what I have to gain and I also know what I have to lose."
While Robinson hasn't been allowed at the team facility or to have any contact with club officials while suspended, he did note how much he appreciated support from quarterback Brett Favre while he's been away.
Favre, who has overcome substance-abuse issues of his own during in his career, spoke with Robinson occasionally during the past year and more frequently over the last couple of months. He said last week he's excited about the possibility of Robinson returning to the team and, more importantly, was glad to hear he's been getting his life back in order.
That meant a lot to Robinson.
"That's a legend, and to have him speak highly of me, it motivates me to continue to do what I'm doing, because obviously I'm doing something good or something right," said Robinson, who has been working out in Phoenix with Favre's personal trainer, Ken Croner. "Just to say that he's here for me, regardless of what happens. He'll always be here for me and that's cool. It makes me feel good."
For Robinson, his comeback will feel complete when he's back out on the game field, and he's hoping that coincides with the Packers' return from their bye.
"If I'm able to go on Monday night, I feel like that will be complete, the whole year," he said. "Even if I didn't get reinstated, I would still been OK, because really, the football thing was just a bonus. I'm more happy where I'm at as a person, in my life. I think that's more important than my career as a football player.
"So I'm thankful for this whole year of suspension, because like I said it gave me a chance to really look at my demons, and focus on that, to where I could better some of the relationships in my life -- my marriage, parenthood, ... finances, everything across the board."
Bonus or not, Robinson says he's both excited and overwhelmed that he has a chance to play football again.
"I'm just glad to get an opportunity to really redeem myself, in a sense," he said, "and show everybody the true Koren Robinson." |
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