The final words that Valori Robinson spoke to her son, Darius, struck a familiar tone.
Just be strong.
“She always encouraged me like that and this is something I’m always thinking about for myself in football and in life,” Robinson said Thursday after the Arizona Cardinals held practice on Thanksgiving Day.
“Just be stronger. Just make her happy. Just keep going.”
Valori Robinson’s message came while the rookie defensive lineman was still rehabbing a calf injury that has sidelined him since Aug. 22, delaying his NFL debut. When she died last month, Darius vowed to glorify his mom, just as she had taught him to glorify God.
“You know how people say, ‘What’s the why behind what you do?'” he asked. “That’s the why for the rest of my career and the rest of my time as a Cardinal: my mom.
“I’m gonna be all in, put it all out there for my family and just turn up. Every practice, every game, every meeting has to be intentional.”
The Cardinals still have not said if Robinson will start against the Vikings on Sunday in Minneapolis. Officially, he was limited in practice on Wednesday and Thursday. Coach Jonathan Gannon said Monday that the team would “take it day by day,” but added that “he’s on track to play.”
The 2024 first-round pick (No. 27) played 10 snaps against the Saints in a preseason game on Aug. 10, but he was one of 29 key players who did not see action the following week in Indianapolis with the Cardinals prioritizing health over preseason snaps.
Robinson was activated from injured reserve on Oct. 28, but last week marked the first time he took part in back-to-back practices since his injury. Initially, he returned to practice on Oct. 9, the day his practice window was opened, but he didn’t finish that practice and he didn’t return again until last week.
Both Robinson and Gannon insisted that Robinson didn’t suffer a setback, although Robinson admitted that having to leave practice on the first day of his return was heartbreaking.
“We were just trying to go to practice,” he said. “We were just trying to get better that day. I don’t really have a full answer on that, but it just didn’t go well that practice.”
The anticipation surrounding Robinson’s return has ramped in the past few weeks. While the Cardinals defensive line has done a remarkable job of withstanding the losses of starters Bilal Nichols and Justin Jones — even elevating its play since their season-ending injuries — Robinson showed flashes of play-wrecking ability in camp, just as he had most of his senior season at Missouri.
The Cardinals are taking a more tempered approach than the fan base, however. They know there will be a learning curve for Robinson when it comes to the speed of NFL play, the physicality of NFL play, the tempo of rotations and the ability to react rather than think within their scheme.
“He’s been practicing and gearing up to play, but I don’t think there’s anything that will mimic the exact game,” defensive coordinator Nick Rallis said. “That’s just something that you’re going to have to get out there and eventually, when it is go time, he’s going to have to feel that.”
Robinson said he tried to run as much as possible in practice and after practice to get his conditioning back up, but he won’t know what he can bring until the ball is snapped.
“I don’t want to put any expectations out there,” he said. “I just wanna be a great teammate and just do my job and help our defense. Know my plays, know my install, know where I need to be at, make sure my body’s right and if it’s time, cut it on.”
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The NFL was never a dream for Robinson while growing up in the Canton, Michigan area. That was mostly because he preferred other games. Robinson played baseball, basketball and soccer as a kid so Valori worked a flex shift at Blue Cross/Blue Shield from 7 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. in order to get him to all of his practices. By the time he reached Canton Prep, basketball was his main focus.
“He didn’t come out for football until he was a junior,” said Tim Baechler, who became Robinson’s first football coach when Darius transferred from Canton Prep to powerhouse Canton High. “When he came to school, a couple of kids knew who he was, so we convinced him to come out.
“You could see that the kid had the drive and the want-to. He was big, tall and lanky, but he wasn’t strong yet. He had to start somewhere, but he loved to practice. He was a tough kid right from the get-go that wanted contact, so I knew he was going to be a special player if he could commit to the weight room.”
Baechler started Robinson right away, but there were some rough moments early in his prep career while he learned the nuances of the game.
“He was a five-technique tackle for us and there’s a lot of stuff going on at that position,” Baechler said. “He had to understand that he was going to make more tackles and make more plays by simply doing his job.
“We told him, ‘If you read the lineman across from you, he is going to tell you where that ball is going; you can’t just get out of your stance and look in the backfield because you’re gonna get your ass kicked, and if you’re not blocked, somebody’s gonna be trapping you.’ It was just a big learning curve.
Baechler admitted that he probably wasn’t always Robinson’s favorite coach because he was hard on him.
“He was coming into a very successful high school program so it was tough love,” Baechler said. “He fought me a little bit on it, but I appreciated that. You don’t need a kid who is just a lump and takes a beating. I mean, he was a proud kid and he let me know he wasn’t happy with how I was getting after him, but the bench is a strong motivator and it lit a fire. He responded.
“By week three, he was playing against a big offensive tackle who ended up starting two or three years at Eastern Michigan, and Darius just handled him. In the second round of the playoffs, we were playing Belleville. This team is just loaded with talent; 13 kids going DI and he’s lined up against a kid going to Michigan State. He was right there with him. I mean, it was beautiful.”
Baechler only spoke to Valori Robinson a few times, but it was clear that she was the greatest influence in Darius’ life.
“He was serious about his religion, taking care of his body and taking care of his mother,” Baechler said. “She was super supportive of him and he loved her so much. She was everything to him. I was so sorry to hear about her passing.”
Robinson left the Cardinals to attend her funeral services in Michigan. When he returned to Arizona, the finality of that moment started to sink in.
“It’s tough,” he said. “There really are no words for it. She never got to see me play in the NFL. It just doesn’t seem real.”
Robinson hasn’t decided how he will honor his mom on game days yet. Since his return, he has tried to immerse himself in preparation for his NFL debut. But he knows she will be on his mind when the time comes for him to enter his first regular season game as a Cardinal.
“She is the reason I am who I am today,” he said. “I know what she would say: Just keep my faith. Always pray. And like I said before, just be strong.”
Top photo of Darius Robinson via Getty Images
