Tom Coughlin brought the same tough love that guided two Giants Super Bowl runs to his NFL Combine prospect meetings, veteran wideout Allen Robinson II recalled with a smile Monday.
Robinson, 31, now a Pro Bowler and 11-year veteran free agent, said about half the teams he met with as a 20-year-old two-time Big 10 Receiver of the Year were simply trying to get to know him, while the other half went about it a bit differently.
And his Giants meeting stuck out as one of the different ones.
“There were some meetings I left where I’m like, ‘I don’t even understand why they brought me here,’” Robinson said on the Talkin’ Ball with Pat Leonard podcast. “Whether that was a team putting on my lowlights from the season, and we’re just sitting there flipping through those, watching me on the backside of runs, not blocking anybody. Which actually, shoutout to Tom Coughlin. That’s who that was.
“Tom Coughlin was just asking me like what happened here,” Robinson continued. “It was probably like a three-to-five-minute highlight — well, lowlight — of me just kinda loafing on different plays.”
Robinson was a first-team All-American coming off a 97-catch, 1,432-yard, six-touchdown season at Penn State. But Coughlin was drilling down on the hidden details.
“What he was saying was, ‘I’ve talked to your coach, he said you’re a hard worker and stuff like that, but I don’t see that,’” Robinson added.
Robinson said his meeting with the Jacksonville Jaguars and coach Gus Bradley by contrast was “warm.”
“It felt like they wanted to meet with me,” he said.
Ultimately the Giants drafted Odell Beckham Jr. at No. 12 overall out of LSU. Then the Jags drafted Robinson at No. 61 overall in the second round, and he went to the Pro Bowl in his second NFL season.
But Robinson appreciated and understood Coughlin’s approach and said he was prepared for it by hard coaching growing up.
“Having hard coaches when I was younger prepared me a lot for once I got to the combine being in front of different coaches,” he said. “It didn’t really phase me as far as getting me out of character. I also think that’s something coaches do. They want to evaluate players’ characters because sometimes you may not have another meeting throughout the course of the draft process.
“So they want to be able to kind of pick and poke to see what makes guys tick,” he added. “Do guys get frustrated? How do guys respond to criticism? How do guys respond when they are … not held accountable? So I’ve been able to keep a wide-eyed view and see where coaches are coming from… They’re your coach. They’re meant to get something out of you.”
Listen to the full Talkin’ Ball episode to hear Robinson and former NFL wide receiver co-host Bennie Fowler reminisce about their shared 2014 NFL Combine experience and analyze the L.A. Rams, Matthew Stafford’s situation, Saquon Barkley’s unique abilities, Ben Johnson’s Detroit Lions success and future with the Chicago Bears and more.