Monday, May 24, 2010
By Nick Wagoner
Senior Writer
While the youth movement at Russell Training Center has been in full force the better part of the past two seasons, Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo has maintained that adding veteran help would only come if it makes sense for the team on the field and in the locker room.
In a free agent market mostly devoid of strong veteran options, there was one player that couldn’t have made more sense for the Rams. Enter defensive tackle Fred Robbins.
“(He’s) experienced,” Spagnuolo said. “The guys that can show the younger guys how to be a pro and I’m not just talking about practicing, all the things that you do in between – that’s just as important as anything.”
Nearly from the moment he signed a three-year deal with the Rams on March 8, Robbins has understood and embraced the role he will undertake in his time in St. Louis.
At the top of that list is bringing the many lessons Robbins learned from Spagnuolo when Spagnuolo was his defensive coordinator in New York for two seasons.
There, Robbins played an integral part of a dominant defensive line that helped the Giants to a Super Bowl title. All told, he started 63 games in six seasons in New York after coming into the league as a second-round pick by Minnesota.
Robbins brings that experience along with his knowledge of Spagnuolo’s system to the Rams. And if anybody knows what is expected of him not only in the defense but off the field, it’s Robbins.
“I embrace that,” Robbins said. “I have no problem with that. That’s something he expects from me to just come in and bring overall knowledge and lead by example. That’s something I have done in past years so I have no problem with it and I am comfortable with it.”
Robbins’ overlying comfort level can’t help but be traced directly to his close personal relationship with Spagnuolo.
It was under Spagnuolo’s tutelage that Robbins played some of his best football as he put up a career high in sacks two seasons in a row and was stout against the run.
Even after Spagnuolo departed to become the head coach of the Rams before last season, Robbins says he kept tabs on how his former coach was doing.
“Anytime you get someone who goes from one of the coordinators to being a head coach you wish them the best, especially someone well respected (like Spagnuolo),” Robbins said. “You don’t want to see someone go through the hard times. It’s more than football sometimes.”
When Robbins hit the free agent market, it was clear he was at the top of the Rams’ wish list. And despite the team’s struggles in 2009, the feeling was mutual.
“Spags is a great guy, well respected and we had some good years the two years I played for him,” Robbins said. “That was pretty much the main thing. Things happen in this business; I thought...
-05-25-2010, 08:53 AM
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