SmashMouth

Patrick Robinson couldn't help but marvel at how much the New Orleans Saints' locker room has changed since his last time here -- the result of a 2017 renovation.

"It looks a lot different," Robinson said. "They redid everything in here, it seems like."

But, frankly, everything feels new to Robinson this second time around.

The 30-year-old cornerback, who just had his career-best season with the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, is back where he started with a five-year stretch from 2010-14 that was plagued by inconsistency and a major knee injury. Though Robinson was key to the Eagles' Super Bowl run, Philadelphia, tight against the salary cap, was essentially priced out of the market for the corner.



And when I asked the 2010 first-round draft pick about the time Saints coach Sean Payton brought him into his office when he was struggling in 2014 and showed him a list of cornerbacks who finally hit their stride later in their careers, Robinson said he hadn't really thought about it since.

"Honestly, when I left here, I kind of left everything here. I kind of started on a clean slate," said Robinson, who revived his career over the past three seasons with the Chargers, Colts and Eagles. "When I went out to California, it was pretty much just, 'Cut off the past,' and I was just going forward."

Robinson admitted he is as surprised as anyone to be back in New Orleans after signing a four-year, $20 million contract in free agency.

"Honestly, I kind of left on a bitter note, so I definitely didn't think I'd be back here," said Robinson -- who stressed he didn't have any problem with coaches or management.

"I just had a hard experience," Robinson said of his struggles.

Those of us in the media who have spoken with Robinson a couple times this offseason have noted how much more confidence he seems to be carrying. But the mere fact he was willing to return to New Orleans and try to exorcise those old demons makes that obvious.

Robinson admitted he struggled with his confidence during those early years, when he bounced in and out of the lineup and when he returned from that patellar injury that wiped out his 2013 season. He admitted he was doing too much thinking and running too many "what-if" scenarios through his mind when he was on the field. And that he needed the change of scenery when he became a free agent for the first time in 2014.

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