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Dunta Robinson signed a three-year, $15 million deal with the Chiefs last March and lost his job to Marcus Cooper by the first month of the season. Even though he came back and played a little more as Cooper struggled down the stretch, it was obvious that Robinson was not coming back in 2014.
This is the part where I'm supposed to talk about why it was a bad signing or why Robinson couldn't cut it. But I'm not going to do that. I actually liked the signing back then so I'm not going to show off my hindsight.
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This is what I wrote about Robinson's signing last year, before the Chiefs signed Sean Smith: "If Robinson is the only cornerback signed, I'm not a huge fan of this decision. If he's been added for depth reasons or to contribute in another role, the signing becomes much better." At the time, 52 percent of our readers approved of the decision to sign Robinson.
I'm not really upset about Robinson's signing and subsequent release after one year. I liked the idea of it when they first signed him last year. He was older and we knew the risks with signing him. It was a good thought, adding talent to a secondary that is trying to top Peyton Manning. It just didn't work out.
This is one of those situations that had the potential to be a lot worse than it was. Robinson was simply benched for a rookie early on in the season. After signing a multi-year deal early in the offseason, that was likely a disappointment to him. Robinson could have taken it badly and whined about his role (or lack thereof) but he took it like a 10-year pro, praised the young Cooper and his teammates, and kept his focus on the team. This is why teams like signing high character guys -- you don't have to worry about the bullshit.
"My role coming is to a leadership role," Robinson said last year when he was signed. "I'm coming in here to compete for a job. I'm like everybody else. Make sure these young guys are playing their best football and I'm playing my best football."
It was a swing and a miss, but you know what? The old Chiefs wouldn't have taken that swing. I'd rather swing and miss than not swing at all.
