The Las Vegas Raiders selected Amik Robertson in the fourth round, 139th overall, of the 2020 NFL Draft. For mid-round picks, teams are taking a shot on a player that they see as a possible starter or, at the very least, an impact player, but obviously need to help brush them up to reach that potential.
Robertson would spend four seasons with the Silver and Black, who decided to move on from the player after his rookie deal expired rather than giving him a contract extension.
During his time with the Raiders, the cornerback out of Louisiana Tech recorded four interceptions, 15 passes defended, two sacks, and two forced fumbles in 52 appearances. Nonetheless, the now Detroit Lions player revealed why he might not have lived up to his potential in Las Vegas.
“I don’t really gamble,” Robertson said about the culture shock of going from Louisiana to Las Vegas on a recent episode of “St. Brown Podcast.” “Before, I was like, partying, I’m going to be honest, I was doing that my first two years. I was doing that a lot. But it’s the reason why I was doing that, too. I don’t want to go in too deep. Vegas was tough.”
Did the Raiders Set Up Amik Robertson to Fail?
Las Vegas has been a disaster over the last 20 years, with a few bright spots. Moreover, one of the reasons for the Raiders’ lack of success is their inability to draft and develop players.
While Robertson admits that partying during his first two NFL seasons didn’t help, he also pointed out that the Raiders didn’t make things any easier, placing him in a position he had never played before.
“I come in, I get drafted [by the Raiders,” Robertson added. “Everybody loves me. Then they move me to Nickel. Never played that in my life. That s— was like Chinese. They just threw me in the water to play Nickel. I didn’t even understand Nickel. I didn’t perform the way. Now everybody like, they turning their back on me. And it’s like, then we didn’t have OTAs. We didn’t have because of COVID, we didn’t have none of that.
“So I had to learn from the iPad. It’s different when you’re looking rather than really doing it. And when I got out there, them bullets was flying. I just couldn’t handle it, and two years straight, I was in an island, I was in a bad place and that’s what forced me to go out a lot.”
Amik Robertson Has Found a Home With the Lions
Robertson’s time with the Raiders began to turn toward the positive in his final two seasons. Furthermore, it was at this point that he was putting the partying behind him, as this route would surely mean that Robertson could be out of the league.
“When you don’t feel accepted, when you just got high school, middle school, and college, and everybody loved you,” Robertson said. “But then, when you get to the league and they start to love you a little bit, people start turning their backs on you.
“It’s like going to the clubs, around all these people, I feel love. So that’s why I was just going out every night. But eventually, I ended up finding myself again and realized, ‘No, that’s not me.’ I had to get back to my roots.”
He recorded back-to-back seasons of 17-game appearances with his stats improving. However, the uptick in his final two years wasn’t enough for Las Vegas to sign him to an extension, allowing him to leave as a free agent.
The turnaround that Robertson had led to a productive 2022 and 2023 season. As a result, the Lions took a chance on him and signed the defensive back to a two-year, $9.25 million contract with $5.5 million guaranteed, including a $3.3 million signing bonus, per Over the Cap.
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