Washington Commanders rookie running back Brian Robinson Jr. made his NFL debut Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. He is a little sore and bruised, as expected. He had no contact for six weeks.
Robinson is still trying to get comfortable being back on the football field after recovering from two gunshot wounds.
“I got to kinda gain my comfortability back just a little bit because coming off what I came off of, then having to mentally accept it didn’t happen on the football field, my injury,” Robinson said, per Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post. “I ain’t never heard of nobody recovering from a gunshot and playing football again.”
The third-round pick out of Alabama suffered two gunshots in the knee during an attempted armed robbery in Washington, D.C. Aug. 28. He survived the shooting and avoided any substantial structural damage.
Robinson rehabbed furiously to get back on the field. He got cleared ahead of last week’s game against the Titans. It’s not many widely publicized cases of a gunshot victim resuming football.
“I can’t get advice from somewhere or get information from someone telling me how you recover from a gunshot and get back to football,” Robinson continued. “So that’s something that I had to do on my own by just going out there and playing.”
Robinson played 18 snaps in the Commanders’ 21-17 loss, rushing for 22 yards on nine attempts. Now he’ll prepare for his first-ever quick turnaround game. The Commanders will travel to play the Chicago Bears on Thursday Night Football this week.
Resuming his career isn’t as simple as getting back on the field and playing for Robinson. He will have to overcome his physical and mental limitations before he feels comfortable or close to himself before the shooting.
