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News | Washington Commanders - Commanders.com

Keenan Robinson Faces Free Agency Decision

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After completing his rookie contract defined by productive play when healthy, but also a lot of injuries, Keenan Robinson must now decide if he wants to remain in Washington.

While London Fletcher was still playing at a high level in the early 2010s, age eventually became a factor for the highly productive linebacker.

At some point, he was going to slow down and the Washington Redskins needed to find an eventual replacement. In the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft, they got that player in University of Texas' Keenan Robinson.

Robinson -- at 6-foot-3, 238 pounds – was physically bigger and stronger than Fletcher. But after suffering two season-ending injuries during his first two seasons, Robinson had to wait until his third season to play a role on the Redskins defense -- and as the unit's vocal leader no less.

He would thrive in this role during the 2014 season, accumulating 109 tackles with three passes defensed, 1.5 sacks, a forced fumble and an interception.

Robinson started off the 2015 season relatively strong once again before a shoulder injury relegated him inactive for four games.

By the time he was healthy enough to return, Will Compton was playing at a good enough pace that the team decided to keep Robinson in a reserve role.

Now Robinson hits free agency with a decision to make.

"I like Washington, the area's cool and they believed in me and trusted me when I had the injuries back early in my career," Robinson said. "I've had some good time here, when I was active and playing I was able to contribute and help out a lot, so I mean, that possibility is very open and I don't mind that. Obviously my agent will let me know what everything is looking like for me, but I've never been a free agent so I don't know how any of that stuff works. So I'm going to listen to him and he'll help guide me to the direction I need to go."    

With the 2015 NFL Combine set to start next week, Redskins.com will look back at past Redskins that attended. Today, it's Keenan Robinson.

While Robinson has dealt with several different injuries – two torn pectoral muscles along with shoulder and  MCL issues – the inside linebacker will continue to play at full speed, not at all playing a worrisome style because of previous wounds.

"I play reckless and I play with reckless abandon, I don't have no regard for my body, so those things are going to happen," Robinson said. "And that's something, that's the way I choose to play and so I have to expect that those things are going to happen. There's probably a few things I could do differently here and there, but at the end of the day, freak injuries are going to happen."

The second half of the 2015 season was difficult for Robinson, though, as he appeared only sparingly during the last month of action.

But that didn't some him from remaining interested in what the team was doing.

"At the end of the day, it's still a business," Robinson said. "I'm a professional and I'm a four-year player. I understand everything a ball game has to offer, so for me staying plugged in is easy because even though I wasn't out there physically, I was still a play away and I'm still out there trying to help those guys because I'm still a part of the team. It would be different if I was away from the team, IR or whatever, but I still a part of this team. I'm dressing, if I'm up, if I'm active on Sunday, I'm still a part of the team. I still expect to help attribute in any way that I can."

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