Jalen Robinette is back in front of NFL scouts.
For background, he's Air Force's all time leading receiver, averaged something like 27 yards per catch his final two years there. His catch reel (every catch) is basically a highlight reel of Moss'ing opponents. He is a full 6'3" and 215 to 220 lbs with near 33-inch arms and 11-inch hands. He ran a 4.62 at the Combine back in 2017 and just last week ran a 4.53 at Air Force pro day. That's the elevator pitch.
After a whirlwind draft season where EVERYTHING seemed to go right as he first participated in the Shrine week, then got picked up to participate in the Senior Bowl, and then got invited to the NFL Combine, disaster struck on draft weekend. Literally one day before he was going to be drafted (confirmed by NFL teams), the Department of Defense issued a memo rescinding their previous policy of allowing academy football players to defer mandatory service so that they could pursue the NFL.
Imagine that. He had a party set up for Day 3 of the draft, family in town, everything. Then on Day 2 he reads in the media that this has happened, and his NFL dream is over (temporarily).
His agent worked behind the scenes with some lobbyists to try and get Robinette grandfathered in under the old policy, and meanwhile Robinette was invited first to the Buffalo Bills rookie mini camp as a tryout player (Marvin Allen had just joined the Bills a few weeks prior as National Scout), and then to the New England Patriots rookie mini camp as a tryout player (with Chad O'Shea as his WR Coach).
But then was some...politicking...that happened behind the scenes, and the Air Force used a flimsy excuse (I won't say what it was) to call into question his graduation eligibility. He chose to put up his efforts lobbying to be grandfathered under the old NFL policy, and the Air Force cleared him for graduation. He went on to become an officer serving at Nellis Air Force Base.
Well, his mandatory two years are up now. He's getting his release in late-July. He's free to sign a reserve/futures contract with an NFL team. He will not be in the Draft, as he was technically already in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Like I said, last week he participated in the Air Force pro day, where he ran a 4.53 at a slimmed down 215 lbs.
And today, because he's originally from Bexley, Ohio, and he's got some Ohio State connections, he was able to be part of the Ohio State pro day. He caught passes from future Top 10 QB pick Dwayne Haskins in front of a massive throng of NFL scouts and executives. GM Chris Grier was among them.
Considering how important this pro day was to Haskins, it really says something that they were willing to let Robinette be one of Dwayne's receivers out there.
I happen to know that the Dolphins have been paying attention to several very late round or possibly undrafted BIG wide receivers...guys like Jalen Hurd and Keelan Doss. Robinette remembers Chad O'Shea, says that he really loved his coaching style. Curious whether O'Shea remembers Robinette. Also curious if Marvin Allen had anything to do with the rookie invites when he got to the Buffalo Bills in May of 2017, or if that list was already set when he got there.
Either way I can't think of a signing that would be more on-message for a Brian Flores and everything he's been preaching about selfless team-first players than signing a literal Air Force officer, especially if you're already looking for a bigger late-round wide receiver, and especially if your offensive coordinator already has experience with him.
