The answer is…never.
Q: When was the last time you went into cutdown day not knowing if your spot on the roster was secured?
This is uncharted territory for Allen Robinson, who has accomplished a lot in his decade in the NFL, but has never experienced anything like this before.
“No, not yet,” he said Saturday night, standing in front of the locker room where he might be on Giants gameday this season.
It could be an anxious few days for many players as the Giants and the rest of the league go through a major shake-up, cutting their starting rosters from 90 to 53 players.
Players will then be added or removed via the waiver wire, and the actual opening day roster will be decided before the Giants play the Vikings at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 8.
The Giants waived 12 players on Sunday, but Robinson will once again be a survivor.
When it comes to wide receivers, there isn’t anyone on the team with Robinson’s pedigree.
He spent 10 seasons with the Jaguars, Bears, Rams and Steelers, recording 562 receptions for 7,028 yards and 43 touchdowns.
He signed a one-year, $1.4 million contract in early May, but the Giants only guaranteed $25,000 of that, meaning he had to prove he still had life in his leg and could contribute to the team.
Robinson stayed healthy all summer and didn’t miss anything when he turned 31 on Saturday, which was the hard part.
He was a reliable pass-catching player, but he wasn’t explosive and he never drew attention for his playmaking exuberance.
Robinson has impressed with his leadership and class, traits that will surely be welcomed by a wide receiver corps full of young players.
Rookies Malik Neighbors is 21, Jalin Hyatt is 22 and Wan’Dale Robinson is 23, and the only player with experience in that position group is Darius Slayton (27).
“I want to be the best teammate I can be, because when you’re together for three, four, five months, you develop a bond,” Allen Robinson said. “To me, it’s not about the value. The amount of time you spend in a room like this with these guys, on and off the field, football, recovery, life, whatever it may be, I’ve always looked at ways to help these guys get better.”
The Giants ended the preseason with a 10-6 loss to the Jets, with Robinson playing 28 of the 67 snaps on offense.
The more time a player plays in this game, the less likely he is to stay. Robinson had an end-around for 10 yards and caught one pass for four yards on his only target.
In the preseason, Robinson caught three passes for 23 yards, and is clearly still a long way from his prime, when he had 80 catches for 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns with the Jaguars in 2015, and may resemble the player he underperformed with the Steelers last season (34 catches for 280 yards in 17 games).
“For me, this is my 11th year, just being able to show up to every practice in training camp, be able to play and just show consistency every day,” Robinson said. “I think the biggest thing in this league is how consistent you can be. I’ve always challenged myself to try and do that as a player.”
“I think I was able to make plays. I think I was able to build on that day by day during training camp.”
The problem is, the Giants likely don’t have room for Robinson at that position with their roster construction.
Four spots are set — Neighbors, Wan’Dale Robinson, Hyatt and Slayton — and two are expected to be taken by special teams centrics — Miles Boykin and either Gunner Olszewski or Isaiah McKenzie, most likely Olszewski.
If the Giants decide to select seven receivers, Allen Robinson and Isaiah Hodgins will likely be considered for the final spot.
Neither player’s lack of contributions on special teams doesn’t help either player, which is a big minus for a player on the tail end of the roster. The other receiver, Bryce Ford Wheaton, 24, is starting to make an impact on special teams.
Robinson says he’s not too preoccupied with making the team: “When you’re in the middle of a race it’s hard to look out. It’s hard to look right, it’s hard to look left, at least for me.”
Good news and bad news will come soon.
“Whatever happens, happens,” Robinson said. “If you would have asked me this a few weeks ago and asked me how I was going to handle it, I would have said, ‘Have some good days in training camp and be consistent.’ At this stage, it’s what’s going to happen.”
