Demarcus Dontavian Robinson (September 21, 1994) is an American football wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Florida.
Early years
Robinson attended and played high school football at Peach County High School.
College career
Robinson played his collegiate career at Florida from 2013–2015. He played minimally as a freshman in 2013 and finished the season with five receptions for 23 yards in seven games. Robinson was suspended twice during his freshman season after failing multiple tests for marijuana. In 2014, he had his breakout season and started 11 of 12 games. He was suspended for their season-opener, that was eventually canceled due to weather, against Idaho after failing another drug test for marijuana. Robinson made 53 receptions for 810 receiving yards and seven touchdown receptions. He led the Gators as a junior in 2015 with 48 receptions and also had 522 receiving yards and two touchdowns in 13 games and nine starts. On November 28, 2015, head coach Jim McElwain suspended Robinson 75 minutes before their 27–2 loss to Florida State. The suspension was due to a violation of NCAA and team rules. It was reported the violation was due to Robinson's meeting with a marketing official and it marked his fourth suspension in three years with Florida.
On December 21, 2015, McElwain announced that Robinson and teammate Kelvin Taylor would forgo their senior season and enter the 2016 NFL Draft. When asked about the early departures, McElwain commented, "I really don't get it." Both players were not regarded as first or second round picks and most experts saw their early entries as gambles.
Collegiate statistics
Professional career
Robinson was one of 43 collegiate wide receivers to attend the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana. He performed all of the required combine drills and finished 26th among wide receivers in the 40-yard dash. On March 22, 2016, Robinson opted to attend Florida's pro day, along with Keanu Neal, Vernon Hargreaves, Jonathan Bullard, Jake McGee, Brian Poole, Kelvin Taylor, Alex McCalister, Antonio Morrison, and six other teammates. He chose to run all of the combine drills again and put up similar numbers from the combine. Scouts and team representatives from all 32 NFL teams attended, including Pittsburgh Steelers' General Manager Kevin Colbert, to scout Robinson as he performed positional drills. During the draft process, Robinson had private meetings and workouts with multiple teams, that Included the Philadelphia Eagles, Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, and New York Jets. At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Robinson was projected to be a fifth to seventh round draft pick by NFL draft experts and scouts.
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs selected Robinson in the fourth round (126th overall) of the 2016 NFL Draft. He was the 14th wide receiver selected in 2016.
2016
On May 6, 2016, the Kansas City Chiefs signed Robinson to a four-year, $2.85 million contract that includes a signing bonus of $517,172.
Throughout his first training camp, he competed against Seantavius Jones, Mike Williams, Da'Ron Brown, Tyreek Hill, Mitch Mathews, and Kashif Moore for a backup wide receiver role. Head coach Andy Reid named him the fourth wide receiver on the depth chart to start the season, behind Jeremy Maclin, Albert Wilson, and Chris Conley.
He made his professional regular season debut in the Kansas City Chiefs' season-opening 33–27 victory over the San Diego Chargers. Robinson played in 16 games in 2016, but mainly appeared on special teams and finished without a statistic. After finishing 12–4, the Kansas City Chiefs received a playoff berth after finishing atop the AFC West. On January 15, 2017, Robinson appeared in his first career postseason game as the Chiefs lost 16–18 to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Divisional Round.
2017
The Chiefs opted to release wide receiver Jeremy Maclin during training camp and held an open competition for his vacant starting wide receiver role. Robinson competed against Chris Conley, Tyreek Hill, De'Anthony Thomas, Albert Wilson, and Kenny Cook. He was named the fifth wide receiver on the depth chart behind Conley, Hill, Wilson, and Thomas.