Steelers WR Allen Robinson Talks Rams, Pickett, Tomlin & More | Full Interview | The Rich Eisen Show

pleased to be joined right now by our first guest entering his 10th NFL season and first in Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Alan Robinson is with us Alan thanks a lot for coming on the show man how's everything going so far in Pittsburgh everything's going well man thanks for having me so take me back to March and April you had a really unique situation here you and your agent Brandon Parker had the ability permission to talk to different teams to try to work out a trade you knew that you'd have to rework your contract you end up back in Pennsylvania you know back where you started in college just take me through that process and how it ended up that you're a stealer now yeah you know um it was something that happened pretty quickly you know and um once the ball kind of got rolling in you know I kind of got wind of it um I was definitely all for it you know um I had uh I had talked to Coach Tomlin you know way back in my pro day which is a lot is a long time ago but it seems like yesterday you know he wants to trade went through we kind of spoke about that but just hearing everything about the sales organization you know like you said going back to uh Pittsburgh I thought was a I mean going back to the state of Pennsylvania I thought would be a super cool thing so once I kind of got wind of that you know for me um reworking my contract and things like that you know whatever I needed to do on my end to kind of help facilitate that and get that done you know I was willing to do you had a you know I'm sure a frustrating year in La for a lot of different reasons both personally the team didn't play well I mean when you signed there it was a big deal I mean they made a huge commitment to you from a financial perspective they bring you in obviously the quarterback is a big part of that too Matthew gets hurt and then you know everything kind of goes downhill from there but what what happened in your mind when you go through not just for you but for that Rams team why why did nothing seem to come together the way that it was supposed to yeah it was tough man um I think one of the big things where you know we never really had a full healthy group uh even going back to OTA time and training camp and things like that you know I thought personally I had one of my best training camps in my career you know but unfortunately through a lot of that you know um Matthew wasn't 100 healthy you know he was still coming off uh an injury that he had from their Super Bowl a year you know so we kind of had that you know and then as the season progressed from week one moving forward oh line wise he was kind of banged up once you got to like weeks six or seven you know I was not nursing a foot so I was banged up Cooper was banged up you know so for our team we never actually could really you know hit a Groove and hit the stride that we wanted to hit you know and then from a schematic standpoint you know I just thought everything was kind of you know thrown thrown off a little bit by so many people in and out of lineup if Sean McVeigh went through it you know during and after the season too Alan you know he had to think about his future after the season obviously you knew at that point you know your your future is uncertain where you're going to end up but when you think back in your mind were there any signs throughout the course of the Season that maybe you know Sean was you know whether it was contemplating walking away or that you know just there were other things on his mind you know that's tough for me to say you know again I think for myself you know I was so focused and so locked in on to how I can continue to get better and how I could continue to uh try to make my role on the team than the offense evolved you know so that was my main focus you know I was really you know kind of tunnel vision on myself and some of the changes and different things that I could do you know to try to help better myself and better the the team and the offense you know so from a lot of many outside perspectives you know uh truthfully I wasn't I wasn't focused on that you know all my time energy and resources was continuously week to week to week being put back into myself you know for me trying to get the year that I was looking forward to having and in the time that I was looking forward to having to try to get that on track you know and again unfortunately I had a foot injury come up you know but throughout the course of the season and I I just truly was kind of reflecting on myself more so than anything and figuring out how I could be better how I could maybe change things as far as how uh certain things were uh going uh in terms of myself how you doing health-wise now Alan the foot and everything else doing well doing well getting getting back on the grass you know I'm I'm uh I'm back doing some OTA stuff you know and and after everybody when it comes to injuries you know the first part about an injury is is getting healthy but then the next part is getting back to yourself you know so I've been able to you know do different things like that over the past couple weeks you know um uh it's a good opportunity for me to be able to go against the defense and stuff like that a little bit before we kind of get into that break before training camp so now I have a whole uh seven week block or so to to do things that I need to do to get myself back to being myself as we as we head into training camp you know but everything has been going has been going smooth and everything has been hasn't progressing very well how significant was that foot injury Ellen how significant was that foot injury man you know what with with all injuries especially things like you know with the particular injury that I had you know the stress fracture of my navicular bone and you know just kind of being often and things like that you know uh for players it's frustrating you know especially for me like I said before getting hurt the time of the year that I did you know I thought I had uh I was continuing to try to ascend with my role and different things like that in the offense you know so it definitely was frustrating and even and even now you know I mean when you come off an injury man it's something that you got to keep your head down you got to be cognitive each and every day of things that you need to get better at want to get better at you know um it's not something that you can just you know just sit back and hope for the best you know you really got to be pushing the ball forward and really be locked into your training to your rehabbing for everything each and every day you know but again for me man challenges and obstacles like that and adversity you know that's what I'm built to go through you know I've been able to bounce back from some different things like that throughout the course of my career I had an addictive attraction my rookie year and I throw my ACL my fourth year you know so I've been able to have some injuries and bounce back you know and I'm looking forward to doing the same Steelers wide receiver Alan Robinson is our guest uh you've had some quarterback luck in your career too and not the good kind Alan you finally get with Matthew Stafford last year obviously he's got the injury tell me about Kenny Pickett when you're looking at what you've seen just through the off season here I'm sure you studied it before you agreed to uh to accept the trade and redo your contract what do you see in him if anything that makes you believe this guy could be a really good NFL quarterback the number one thing that fits out to me you know aside from this Talent is you know he's a leader you know and when I say a leader you know he's the guy who has a great command you know and seeing the command that he has of a team as a second year player man it's it's pretty remarkable you know you don't see too many guys be able to kind of take the ball by the orange how he's able to do that you know and kind of get the command of everybody you know that meeting wise that's pre-practice post practice getting throws in after you know it typically takes a little bit longer for God to kind of you know go through that maturation process and learn to take what they need and learn how to you know get some of the extra reps and steal some reps here or there you know but he's already on top of that man he's on top of that since since day one that I got here and it's fun to see you know just kind of being out there with him each and every day man I mean we've all as a as an entire unit have been Progressive you know and that's exactly what we want what kind of role are you looking at for yourself in this offense down because I know last year you know with the way the Cooper Cup played there's some questions in terms of exactly how those pieces were going to fit together how do you feel about the role that they're kind of carving out for you in the Steelers offense in terms of the fit that you're gonna have yeah you know I I think the most unique thing is that um for our receiving room you know between me George and Deontay you know we all have different skill sets you know and and I think that's something that both very well you know when you have when you have guys you can have different skill sets who can play different parts of me move around and different things like that you know so for me you know I've been able to come in and and just kind of learn the whole landscape of the office you know that's playing you know x z f whatever that may be you know just so that I can be utilized in in whatever way that they need me in many different ways you know so for me that's just kind of where I've been you know locked in that it just kind of you know gaining a full graph of the offense so that once you get the training camp and different things like that you know I mean I'm able to be utilized in many different fashions you mentioned earlier Mike Tomlin was at your pro day which would have been right about nine ten years ago I believe what do you remember about that day and any interactions you had with him yeah so I remember um actually the offensive coordinator for this bill is that they was kind of running our workout uh coach Haley uh so him of course Tomlin were both kind of you know front and center when it came to that you know and it was me and just one other uh receiver um at that time going through the pro day and my my cousin who played in the CFL at the time he threw for me you know so it was it was pretty unique but I remember man it was just us two and he ended up the other receiver ended up going down so it was kind of just me running routes you know and I was going back to back to back to back to back and that was something that that coach Tomlin you know said that he liked it and and enjoyed you know watching me work and actually another receiver coach ended up stepping in and uh who was Coach Jerry Sullivan from the Jaguars who ended up kind of stopping the workout because I was by myself um so uh but it was you know it was a fun story you know it just kind of you know how things have progressed you know being able to be connected uh to that and see how things can come full circle in the NFL it's pretty cool does Mike still have that same energy that he's always had I mean you've been around him now through the spring here going through practices did you see that same juice that you've always I'm sure seen on TV and whatnot from him most definitely um it's it's such a it's such a special trait you know I think that uh for me personally even as a player you know when you say team meetings every single day you know it's it's truly the art of getting guys mind right ready to play football each and every day and you know as a as a veteran you know you can appreciate that you know I think that once you play time in this league you know you start to you start to really cherish some of the small things you know and especially for me now you know again coming off the injury you know being able to hear coach Thomas how he gets us mentally prepared on a day-to-day basis and then going out there you know from whether it's from drill to drill for meeting or whatever you know taking taking the small things being attentive to the details and different things like that you know and that's a big reason why he's been able to have success uh in this league you know because not a day goes by you know where we aren't locked into the little things and not and those aren't being brought to our attention on how we can be better as a unit better as a team and better as players so as you look and I know you're a guy who follows the news at least a little bit Alan in terms of around the league you've seen in your division Lamar Jackson's re-signed Odell's coming in there to join him in Baltimore he got Cleveland now a full off season with the Sean Watson he's going to be out there from week one this time around then you got the Bengals who are as long as Joe Burrows there are going to be talked about as one of the favorites in the AFC give me your your breakdown of the division and the pitch if you have one for why we should believe in the Steelers in the AFC North in 2023 me and I missed a great division you know I think that as a as a competitor as a player you know that's what you want to do you want to line up against the best talent across the league uh each and every Sunday and for us we know that we know the competitive division that we had you know but again I think that when you have the the group of players that we have you have the character of guys that we have in this locker room and when you have the grit of guys that we're having that we have in this locker room you know we're looking forward to that challenge each and every Sunday you know and we're making sure that even right now today as we go through the spring that we're mentally preparing ourselves you know for some of these different things that may happen during the season for any adverse moment you know and I think that you can already kind of see the grit of the group starting to form you know again when you have a coach like like coach Tom you know it's the reason like I said before why he's had success you know he knows how to get guys to Rally around each other he knows how to get guys to buy into each other and different things like that like I said before man we have some special foreman and you could tell already I mean you're getting a test right out of the gate too I mean week one you're you're facing the uh the San Francisco 49ers who again other teams can be talked about as one of the one of the favorites within the division do you like the early tests do you like having a hard game out of the Gator would you rather ease in college Style with a few of those uh you know division two type foes within the NFL man you know at the end of the day it's the NFL you know everybody that you play week one is going to be a tough matchup team uh most times that's when teams are their most healthy and different things like that so you're typically going to get guys best best shot you know early on in the season but again I mean I think across the board though it's one of those things where you have you have new people in different systems and things like that it isn't much tape on guys you know you don't have as many trends that have set-ins and you know some of the analytical data of different things like that hasn't quite set in yet you know so so it's a true matchup of you know having to step in week one you know two good teams going against each other each other not knowing too much information about each other just having to go out there and play ball you know so some of those early season matchups are definitely fun you know because you just have to lock in you know trust yourself trust your teammates go out there and play ball you talk about that analytical data there is quite a bit of data actually Alan to back up the fact that you were the most open receiver on the uh Rams last season even more so than Cooper cup just in terms of the separation people are going to look at the raw numbers and catches and all that and have questions just like any player you know what in your mind how much do you have left you're 29 years old you turn 30 I think in August how much more is there still for Alan Robinson in the NFL I think I have a lot more you know again like you said before man I'm I'm going into my 10th year but still to date right now you know I'm 29 you know so um I haven't I haven't I haven't broke 30 yet which I will this year but again for me um how I approach my off season how I approach my end season and different things like that you know I've I've learned to be able to to improve in the areas that I need to and learning and I've learned how to do that you know so forget I'm a guy who you know I take my workouts I take my training I take my practices I take everything like that serious you know for me it's always football you know it's always how can I continue to improve myself you know again like things like last season things like that you know that's not something that I'm bitter about it's not something that I'm you know upset about is you know how can I continue to push this ball forward you know and continue to improve myself you know and be the best version of myself and that's all that I focus on you know it's not any it's not anybody from the outside any outside noise you know it's just about me versus me you know how can I continue to get better and continue to improve last thing for you Alan very important uh check your Twitter you're not a big Twitter guy but I think one of your last tweets was about send the best spots to eat in Pittsburgh have you found have you found your your joints around there yet I I have not yet um I was seeing everything come through man I'm like damn this is really really gonna break my diet you know so so at some point I'll get around to a man uh for everybody who's sending me spots on Twitter man continue to do that I'm definitely gonna get around to them now how often I may get around to those I I do not know but I I love to be able to have different options so when I have family and things like that coming to town for games I can always kind of you know Point them in the right direction of food places to come and eat because when my family comes into town and things that they love to try new places Alan you're the best man thanks a lot for coming on and good luck this season I appreciate it thank you Steelers wide receiver Alan Robinson catch the Rich Eisen show every single day on the Roku Channel 12 to 3 Eastern for free