Cam Robinson has left the Minnesota Vikings for the Houston Texans in free agency. The former Alabama All-American was with the NFL team for only 10 weeks, but Minnesota coach Kevin O’Connell isn’t going to forget what Robinson did for the Vikings.
“I don’t know if it’s been talked about enough,” O’Connell said while attending the league’s annual meeting in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday. “One of the best left tackles in football, Christian Darrisaw, goes down, and Cam Robinson comes into our building on a Wednesday and we win the next nine football games we played against some great pass rushers. I just don’t know how many times in the league that that’s happened. But I think that’s a credit to Cam and what he’s been able to do. He’s played a lot of football. And the one thing about the tackle spot is, you know, there’s not very many snaps you’re not blocking that defensive end.”
Minnesota lost Darrisaw for the 2024 season to an injury in the seventh game. The Vikings traded with the Jacksonville Jaguars for Robinson, who stepped immediately into the vacancy and played every offensive snap in all but one of Minnesota’s remaining 11 games.
The Texans also acquired Robinson to fill a vacancy. On March 10, Houston traded five-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil to the Washington Commanders. On March 19, the Texans signed Robinson to a one-year, $12 million contract.
“He’s obviously stepping in for a pretty legitimate player in Laremy that’s had a ton of success,” O’Connell said. “So I just think Cam’s going to do well. And knowing a little bit about (Texans coach) DeMeco (Ryans) and (general manager) Nick (Caserio) and kind of what they’ve built there from a play-style standpoint, I think they’re going to like a lot that Cam has to offer.”
Robinson won the Outland Trophy as college football’s best interior lineman as a unanimous All-American at Alabama in 2016.
The Jaguars selected Robinson in the second round of the 2017 NFL Draft. Robinson started all 91 regular-season and three postseason games that he played for Jacksonville at left tackle.
The Jaguars used the franchise tag to keep Robinson out of free agency after the 2020 season and tagged him again after the 2021 season. The second time around, the Jaguars were able to reach a contract extension with Robinson, signing the tackle to a three-year, $54 million deal that expired in March.
FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.