Former Ohio State wide receiver Brian Robiskie was pegged as a top-10 rookie wide receiver at the most recent NFL Draft. Slated to go somewhere within the first- or second-round, the Browns used the 36th overall draft pick to secure the son of a former Cleveland coach. Unfortunately, draft day may have been Robiskie’s brightest moment of his tenure with the Browns as he has failed to secure a spot within the active roster on a consistent basis.
When asked where the second-round pick has been after two consecutive inactives, Browns head coach Eric Mangini stated “[Brian's] going to have to go out and earn that playing time. It’s a unique position at receiver.”
The quote, thanks to the Canton Repository, goes on to compare Robiskie’s place on the team to those of Joshua Cribbs, Mike Furrey and Chansi Stuckey. Mangini sites Cribbs’ standout work on special teams, which makes sense. The others, however, are blatantly his doing.
Mike Furrey’s role on defense is not something that a team (or any other team) would rely on when adding him to their roster. He has to play defense due to the secondary being very weak. Stuckey’s role on this team seems to simply stem from two things: 1) he is an ex-jet, and 2) he was what the Browns received for Braylon Edwards - a former Pro Bowl wideout.
During the 2009 NFL Draft, wide receiver Brian Robiskie was the recipient of mixed reviews. Though being widely placed among the top WRs in the draft, and given the tag “NFL ready,” the thought among most Browns fans were that a high second-round draft pick would be best used elsewhere. These issues were magnified when the Browns used another second-round pick on a wide receiver in Georgia’s Mohamed Massaquoi.
Of course, there is always the possibility that Robiskie has done something outside of “not earning a spot” that has landed him in street clothes every Sunday. Given the lack of information that is leaked out of Berea, one can only speculate as to the true reason for his absence given his skill set coming out of Ohio State and the severe lack of pass-catching options on the current Browns roster.
During our review of the draft, Robiskie’s name popped up almost across the board in terms of being the biggest disappointment in Mangini’s first draft with the Browns. The head coach’s decision to not develop his second-round selection into a contributor speaks not only poorly on his talent evaluation, but his ability to work with his players to mold them into what they need to be to not only make the active roster, but be a producer on the field.
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(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Author: Scott
Scott is a co-founder/editor of Waiting For Next Year who resides in Cleveland, Ohio. Feel free to follow him on Twitter or email him at scott@waitingfornextyear.com.Scott has written 2079 articles for Waiting for Next Year.
I would bet on him being in the doghouse … I would also agree that Coye Francies has found his way there seeing that he’s only played in one game since he got in to the locker room fight with Brandon McDonald (he threw ice at him… obviously trying to cool him down for getting burned all the time). The missing on 2nd round picks other than Massaqoui (while it’s still to early to call on all three of them really) could hurt us in the long run. Though it’s nice to at least hit on some first rounders in the last two drafts.
Actually, the grey background makes things REALLY tough to read. There are dozens of studies about what is easiest on the eyes – and a grey background with black text is NOT near the top of that list. Black on white or off-white is far better. Please do some more research and consider changing it. The crisp colors of the header would pop better with a white or off-white background too.
A disciplinary issue would be out of character for Robo. When he was in college I didn’t see him being a productive NFL receiver and I really don’t see him doing it now. He just doesn’t have the skill set.
I don’t understand what the deal is but how can they not play him at this point? I think it’s gotta be something more than “He hasn’t earned a role.” He was a model citizen at Ohio State, and even at my arch rival Chagrin Falls. If some guy off the practice squad can get on the field then why can’t RoBo? I’d rather watch him go across the middle than run bubble screens to Cribbs all day.
I can’t describe how depressing it was to see a pass thrown to a guy I’d never heard of on Sunday who had just been added from the practice squad, and a second round pick who was supposedly fairly polished coming into the draft can’t even get to dress.
It very may well be the position flexability. All throughout the free agency period – and even the guys we got back in trades, etc – Mangini harped on the fact that they could play multiple positions. He as this idyllic state where he has about 15 guys that can play both sides of the ball and play special teams.
I can’t really speak to his talent, but it seems obvious he’s landed himself in the mysterious mangini doghouse. Let’s be honest, none of our receivers are very/any good.
Cribbs and Furrey should always be active for the reasons stated in the article. But for all of MoMass’s upside and 2 big games, the kid can’t run routes or read defenses for crap. Also, he has Braylon-hands. Stuckey is better at those things, but doesn’t do anything that “wows” Browns or Jets fans yet.
Robo doesn’t learn anything by sitting on the bench. When our receiver pool is a mess of mediocrity, what to we lose by letting Robo get a few series? Maybe he’s terrible and all NFL scouts were wrong, but it seems to me he is certainly not getting a fair shot to prove himself on the field.
If he wanted to line Rogers up at fullback, I would certainly have enjoyed watching that. Tell me what linebacker in the NFL is getting off that block in the hole (assuming, of course, there was a hole to begin with).
Robo is the perfect example of why Mangini most likely will not be here nest year, or at least certainly won’t be in charge of drafting. We have 11 picks next year, and if we rely on Magnini to select them 7 or 8 won’t even play next year. It’s ludicrous. On a 1-11 team, all your rookie draft picks should be out there developing, finind out if they fit into next years plans, instead ours are in street clothes. Where’s that stong credible front office person Lerner was talking about?
As I said on Twitter over the weekend, it is still too early to call Robo a bust, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t completely disappointed.
We all scratched our heads and called this pick a reach. Just once it would be nice to be wrong when thinking the worst.
Sorry for putting this here but does anyone know what I may have done to offend WordPress? Is it a ND alum? I have a WordPress account but outside of the WordPress website I can’t anywhere else to recognize my Username.
@Kevin
All comments about the new design are going into a list and will be considered. Thanks.
I didn’t know much about him and upon googling found that he was seen as a good pick at the time.
Someone in the PD suggested that Mangini is punishing him for spearheading that bus ride fiasco through his dad.
I don’t believe that personal issues play a role, though. If Mangini made the pick, wouldn’t he want it to above all, succeed?
(OT Alert)
Nullster, great Avatar!
I went to Giant Eagle yesterday and they were completely out of Christmas Ale. How can this be? It was the first day of December! You people keep your drunken hands off my brew!
just seeing if my avatar works
I am using IE6 @ work, anyway to make this site appear a little better after this update?
@Oribiasi unfortunately, no. Even Microsoft has abandoned all support for IE6. We sympathize GREATLY, but that browser is so far off the rails in terms of web standards that it just isn’t possible.
Giving this gravatar deal a shot…..
Scott, you misspellz ‘Dawghouse’
Guys in response to the avatar stuff… give it 5-10 minutes after you load a picture and it will appear
Also… Just checked Great Lakes gift shop and there is Christmas Ale there as well as the Giant Eagle at 117th … so there are always those options to drown your sorrows about Robo not playing
If any of you want to time warp to the next day with absolutely no memory of how you got there I recommend the Rackhouse Ale. They serve it you in a brandy snifter because of its potency.
I don’t believe that personal issues play a role, though. If Mangini made the pick, wouldn’t he want it to above all, succeed?
I don’t know. You wouldn’t think he would intentionally submarine himself, but he *did* start DA over and over again insisting that he “gave us the best chance to win” when anyone with functioning eyeballs could see that wasn’t the case.
I think Mangini has a series of brain wires that are more interested in “establishing his culture/authority” than anything else. He wants everyone to know it’s “[his] way or the highway.” I mean, shoot, there was speculation that the reason Quinn didn’t play was because he questioned something in the gameplanning or in practice.
Nice look on the site, guys!
But this Robiskie talk strikes me as overreaction.
Why isn’t it as simple as the fact that the other receivers are all better at getting open than Robiskie is?
Watching Stuckey in the last two games has made this most obvious. Even as bad as the offense was against the Bengals, the difference between that and how much worse it was against the Packers and Bears (when Robiskie was out there instead of Stuckey), was like night and day.
Robiskie has never been a burner. Running the routes in the NFL is the hardest thing for a receiver to learn, and that’s what Robiskie is going to have to learn to do to be a success. They say that WRs take the longest to develop precisely because it’s so hard to adjust to the kind of route-running that the pro game requires.
I hated the pick when it happened too (and clearly recall getting bashed in the comments here for my Maualuga support), but you can at least understand that there were good reasons for making it.
I think it’s all worth treating with a lot more patience than it’s being shown here, but I guess impatience is just the way it goes with anything that has Mangini’s fingerprints on it.
Browns draft pick brilliance at its best and I couldn’t agree more. There is absolutely no benefit to using high round draft picks on players the coaching staff neglects to let play or develop. It is a waste in every sense of the word. Unlike fine art or antiques, a player’s trade value does not go up simply by sitting somewhere unused and in Robiskie’s case on the sidelines.
I feel for the kid too because I went to high school with him, and I’ve followed his football career ever since.
How are the people who make these sorts of decisions currently employed by a professional football franchise. Why I ask, WHY?
I am very curious, once Mangini is gone will the real story come out? If he just cant get open dont you think we would have heard something about it. I putting my money on a Mangini doghouse. Mangini seems like the kind of coach to stick to his guns and make a point (whatever that point may be) and have it hurt Robiskies development. Disappointing.
I really don’t get why the first assumption isn’t that Robiskie, who lacks great speed, just hasn’t learned how to get open in the NFL yet. It takes receivers without great speed time to do that. That’s normal. I guess somebody who doesn’t acknowledge that wouldn’t necessarily understand why anyone would be employed by an NFL franchise.
I don’t understand the curiosity and speculation about “what the real story” is.
The difference in the offense when Stuckey replaces Robiskie seems pretty clear.
Robo was a huge bust…Mangini should have no say in the upcoming draft if he is still the coach
I always thought the pick was little more than a PR move to give the fans a homer kid and make us feel good about the new regime. Still wonder if the Rams hadn’t taken Laurinaitis a pick earlier if it would have been him in Brown & Orange, possibly even producing on a weekly basis.
High draft pick? Don’t play him.
This sort of thing only happens to neglected fantasy football teams. FFS at least play the kid, clearly the season is over, might as well get him some NFL experience with the team you drafted him for and boost stats to help any (rapidly deteriorating) trade value.
This whole situation reeks of Mangini’s oppressive and ill-informed puppetry nonsense. Either that or Robo’s been telling some good jokes about Mangini’s mom in the locker room.
The fact that they passed on Rey Maualuga to pick Robiskie makes the fact that the latter isn’t even dressing that much more of a disappointment. Say what you will about Maualuga, but LB was obviously a need considering they drafted two of them after they drafted a second WR.
No question Robiskie over Maualuga was a mistake….but a lot of people, including a lot here, liked it. There were reasons for doing it.
Let’s not pretend that drafting is an exact science, please.
what? no isis on the new-look site?