Kenny Robinson's Versatility Could Earn Him Early Playing Time

Former Mountaineer Kenny Robinson has shown versatility through his athleticism and it could earn early playing time with the Carolina Panthers

Heading into the 2020 NFL Draft, The Panthers already shored up the offensive side of the ball locking Christian McCaffrey up to a four-year, 64-million dollar deal making him the highest-paid running back in the league and bringing in quarterback Teddy Bridgewater in place of nine-year Panther signal-caller, Cam Newton.

The Carolina Panthers had needs on the defensive side of the ball, especially in the secondary after letting veteran strong safety Eric Reid hit the open market in free agency and cutting loose safety Colin Jones (who was primarily on special teams), along with corners James Bradberry and Ross Cockrell.

Newly hired head coach Matt Rhule used all seven of his draft picks on the defense. After the first two picks were along the defensive line (DT Derrick Brown, DE Yetur Gross-Matos), Rhule traded up to get Consensus All-American safety Jeremy Chinn out of Southern Illinois. Then, he grabbed corner Troy Pride Jr. (Notre Dame) in the fourth before snatching up former West Virginia Mountaineers safety Kenny Robinson in the fifth round.

“Robinson may have made an off the field mistake (academic fraud) in the past, but he’s no mistake on the field,” said Schuyler Callihan of AllPanthers.com. “Great work ethic, vocal leader, plays with a little bit of swagger and most importantly - can cover from sideline to sideline.”

“What makes Robinson really impressive is his ability to play anywhere in the secondary and still compete at a high level,” added Callihan. “West Virginia needed him to play corner his freshman year early on and towards the end of the season, settled into his role at safety. Great hands, great ball skills, and makes terrific jumps on throws over the middle. Don’t be mistaken, Robinson has some ball-hawking qualities in him, but he is a hard hitter and can even come down and be a force in stopping the run game.”

Rhule saw firsthand Robinson's capabilities. In 2018, Baylor made a trip to Morgantown for an intraconference Thursday night battle where Robinson had a game-high eight tackles (five solo) in a dominating 58-14 win.

Robinson finished his Mountaineer career with seven interceptions (two for touchdowns), seven pass deflections, and 123 tackles.

However, in 2019, the Panthers signed free safety Trey Boston to a one-year deal in 2019 before locking him up in mid-March to a three-year 9.5-million-dollar deal along with signing Juston Burris for two-years and eight million dollars.

Robinson has an uphill battle to get playing time but his versatility might get him some immediate playing time and wouldn’t be surprised to see Rhule and the Panthers use his athleticism in special teams to get him used to the game speed of the NFL. 

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