Former Viking Suspended for 3 Games
The Las Vegas Raiders are going nowhere fast — they’d actually own the first overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft if the event were held tonight — and now one of their depth defenders is on the shelf for the season’s remainder.
Former Viking Suspended for 3 Games
He’s Janarius Robinson, a pass rusher drafted by the Minnesota Vikings, and he’ll serve a three-game suspension effective immediately.
ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez tweeted Tuesday, “Janarius Robinson of the Las Vegas Raiders is suspended three games without pay for violating the NFL’s Substances of Abuse Policy, it was announced today.”
Robinson was popped for a DUI last February and will now pay the piper for the offence.
Without Robinson, these are the Raiders defensive ends:
- Tyree Wilson
- K’Lavon Chaisson
- Charles Snowden
- Maxx Crosby (IR)
- Malcolm Koonce (IR)
- David Agoha (PS)
Robinson has played 109 defensive snaps in 2024, used as a depth piece behind Crosby and Chaisson on pass-rushing downs. He also saw the field on 43 special teams plays.
The 25-year-old signed a two-year deal with the Raiders in the 2023 offseason, meaning this suspension could be his final hurrah in Las Vegas. Unless he’s re-signed in February, Robinson is slated to hit free agency in March.
A 4th-Round pick by former Vikings general manager Rick Spielman in 2021, Robinson was a member of the Vikings practice squad after failing to make the 53-man roster at the end of August 2022. The Florida State alumnus missed all of the 2021 season on injured reserve. The 2022 campaign was supposed to be his de facto rookie season — if he could make the team. In his stead, fellow 2021 draft alumnus Patrick Jones and pass rusher D.J. Wonnum served as reservist EDGE rushers to Danielle Hunter and Za’Darius Smith on the Vikings depth chart. So, Robinson hit the practice squad.
The Philadelphia Eagles then pilfered Robinson after defensive end Derek Barnett tore his ACL and was sent to injured reserve in September 2022. Barnett was a trade component received “from the Vikings” roundaboutly from the Sam Bradford trade six years ago.
Robinson arrived to the Vikings as fruit from the Stefon Diggs trade to Buffalo. Diggs was packaged to the Buffalo Bills in 2020 — where he fit in tremendously— while the Vikings received the picks that netted Justin Jefferson (WR), Camryn Bynum (FS), Zach Davidson (TE), Kenny Willekes (EDGE), and Robinson.
Incidentally, a current Viking could soon face a Robinson-style suspension if found guilty. Last July, wide receiver Jordan Addison was arrested for a DUI in California, and there’s a decent chance he will miss three games in the 2025 regular season.
Robinson will turn 26 in May.
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Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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