Scouting The Draft, Patrick Robinson, CB, Florida State

With some spare time this afternoon, I took to watching some film on Patrick Robinson, the Donovan Warren report got me thinking about who was the better prospect for the next level, I thought Warren at the time, and I have to admit after watching film, reading information, background etc, on Robinson that is still my opinion. So with the information and thoughts still fresh in my mind, I thought I would throw up another one tonight before I head off.

The first thing that you have to think about is the school that he is coming from, Florida State churns out cornerbacks like no other. Deion Sanders, Terrell Buckley, Corey Fuller among several others. For this you can thank in large part Mickey Andrews the defensive coordinator for the Seminoles between 1984-2010. At some point he will step down from his position and be removed from the Seminole pay-roll for the first time in 25 years.

It will be interesting to see if they can continue the reputation as THE school for producing NFL cornerbacks.

Anyway back to Patrick Robinson, a player that I flip-flop on all the time, recently I have been quite low on him, but he definitely has the 'potential', but like Mike Mayock, NFL draft analyst commented, his consistency is severly in question:

People are going to look very closely at him because he has the ability, but he didn’t always demonstrate it on a game-by-game and snap-by-snap basis," Mayock said

Florida State's pass defence was nothing to write home about this season, ranked 110th in pass efficiency, and any player that is a part of that is always going to have some question marks, regardless of whether it was directly his fault or not. They had several issues including a lack of push up front, but giving up long pass plays was definitely a problem.

He was also part of the whole academic scandal at Florida State, but can we hold that against him at the next level? we have seen much worse

Career State

2006- 11 games played, 11 tackles, 0 passes broken up, 0 interceptions, 0 sacks, 0 forced fumbles

2007- 12 games played, 27 tackles, 6 passes broken up, 6 interceptions, 0 sacks, 1 forced fumble

2008- 9 games played, 26 tackles, 4 passes broken up, 1 interception, 0 sacks, 1 forced fumble

2009- 12 games played, 52 tackles, 11 passes broken up, 0 interceptions, 0 sacks, 1 forced fumble

Career Achievements & Awards

2007 All-ACC Honorable Mention

2009- All ACC second team

More after the Jump:

So what does Patrick Robinson do well?

He comes from a great system that has been down lately, but Florida State cornerbacks have a reputation for success. He has speed, has been timed at 4.42 in the dash, and some believe he could go faster at the combine. Florida State play a lot of press coverage, so he is used to getting physical with receivers. He transitions exceptionally well, has fluid hips to go with acceleration to the ball, I have heard people question his hips and movement on the turn, not for me, looks fluid. Can play in both man and zone and uses his hands well. Has a good leaping ability, and despite the interception numbers being down, makes a good read on the ball. First thing that always comes to mind when watching Robinson is 'fluid', that work just gets wedged in my brain. He is a decent tackler in the open field, has improved this area of his game, which has seen an increase in tackle numbers. Teams started to avoid throwing in his direction, especially when he was in man coverage, and that's always a good omen for a college cornerback.

What does he need to improve on?

He needs to get even more physical at the line, sometimes whiffs on a tackles because he doesn't get his shoulder in, and leads with the arms. The big one though is consistency, seems to lose concentration at times and in press coverage allows his man to have an easy burst off the line, doesn't bump the route like he should be. Can be over aggressive in his pursuit especially on screens. Sometimes bites on the play action badly which results in long plays over his head. Angles to the ball are not the best, once out of the play, finds it hard to get himself back into it. Needs to become more committed to being a more rounded cornerback, his coverage skills are very decent, but his run defence needs to improve. Can't improve on this really but his durability is a concern, you name the body part, he probably has had problems with it, knee, shoulders, ankle, the works.

My final thoughts on Patrick Robinson

Although I am starting to come around to him, he is still not a first rounder in my book, he has that 'potential' and he has the program aspect working for him, but right now he is behind Haden and equal with Warren. And when I get to Kyle Wilson, I'm expecting him to be battling for the label of #2 cornerback in the 2010 NFL draft. He does a lot of good things, his coverage skills could be very useful at the next level, but his tendency to bite on the play action/pump fake is lowering my opinion of his play. Add to that the consistency issue, and any one play in the NFL can make or break a game, I just don't see him in the first. I think Kiper had him 31st overall, and if he has a good pro day that's quite possible. He has a lot of potential, so wouldn't be annoyed or surprised if we took him. We have one great thing working for us, and that's Revis, any of these top 4-5 cornerbacks in the draft can develop under the tutelage of a studier and performer like Revis. Especially with Robinson, a lot of those negatives can have a limitations put through it if he learned to become more consistent.

Video Highlights

Patrick Robinson's highlights/lowlights

He has days like the one v Maryland where you think this guys is special, but we come back to that word: consistency, consistency, consistency

My order of preference for prospects we have looked at so far:

1) Jared Odrick

2) Brandon Graham

3) Golden Tate

4) Donovan Warren

=4) Patrick Robinson

5) Damien Williams

6) Taylor Mays

Other GGN Scouting Articles

Scouting The Draft, Donovan Warren, CB,Michigan

Scouting The Draft, Golden Tate, WR, Notre Dame

Scouting The Draft, Taylor Mays, S, USC

Scouting The Draft, Brandon Graham, Michigan

Scouting The Draft, Damian Williams

Scouting The Draft, Jared Odrick, DE, Penn State

Prospect Watch, Carlos Dunlap, DE, Florida

Prospect Watch, Arthur Jones, DE, Syracuse