Big Blue View Mailbag: Adrien Robinson edition

The status of second-year tight end Adrien Robinson is something that always seems to be on the minds of New York Giants' fans. More than halfway through his second season, the player GM Jerry Reese called "the JPP of tight ends" when he drafted him in the fourth round in 2012 has played all of three snaps. He has yet to be active for a game this season.

Here is an e-mail asking about Robinson that I received this week.

Do you think Adrien Robinson will ever see the playing field for the Giants? I mean, Andre Brown has recovered from a broken leg, Terrell Thomas from a knee, in the same time it has taken this guy to recover from whatever has kept him out of the lineup. I want to see him play if only because it may force KG to develop some new options for the offense, Larry Donnell, Brandon Myers just don’t seem to threaten anyone, I hate to wait until Witten drops another 12 catch game on us until we see the value of a good TE. Like all fans, I’m happy for the win, but I think the O needs to be better.

Now, let me do my best to answer the Robinson question.

Robinson's career with the Giants has thus far been a star-crossed one. My guess is GM Jerry Reese wishes he had never put the "JPP of tight ends" label on Robinson when he drafted the young man out of Cincinnati in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft.

Robinson's rookie year was a washout because he missed most of the offseason program due to NCAA rules having to do with when his class graduated from Cincinnati. He missed all of the learning time and all of the offensive installation period. While he did get practice time throughout the season he missed the real instructional part of the season, the part where coaches are not immersed in game-planning and have time for real player instruction.

This season, Robinson appeared poised to at least threaten for some playing time. He suffered a foot injury in the final preseason game, however, and has really only been practicing full-time since after the Giants' had their bye in Week 8.

That means this season Robinson missed more than two months of practice time.

He is back to practice now, but way behind the curve when it comes to catching up with Brandon Myers, Bear Pascoe and Larry Donnell. He is on the practice field and that is valuable for him, but how many reps do you really think a fourth-team tight end on an NFL team is getting during practice at this time of the season? Not many.

Best guess here is that if things remain the way they are Robinson is unlikely to be activated on game days any time soon. Two things could change that. One would be an injury at the tight end position. The other would be if the Giants fall hopelessly out of the playoff race.

Otherwise, this is really another lost year for Robinson.

-- E-mail your questions to bigblueview@gmail.com