We conclude our first week of the Vikings' worst draft picks with a guy that was supposed to help the Vikings' defense get to the quarterback, but really didn't do a whole heck of a lot for the Vikings, or for anybody else.
In 1985, the year that saw Bud Grant come back to the Vikings' sideline after a one-year hiatus because Les Steckel was absolutely terrible as a head coach, the Minnesota Vikings didn't have a whole lot in the way of a pass rush. The team as a whole accumulated 33 sacks, and a full one-third of those sacks were tallied by defensive tackle Keith Millard. The next highest sack total on the team was five by Neil Elshire. . .yeah, I don't remember him, either. The team's first round pick in the 1985 draft, Chris Doleman, was playing out of position at outside linebacker and only managed one-half of a sack in his first season.
So, the Vikings chose to use their first round selection in 1986, the 14th selection overall, on Auburn defensive end Gerald Robinson.
Robinson concluded his career at Auburn having set the school record for sacks in a career with 26. The Vikings had hoped that he would be able to step in and give the Vikings some pass rushing presence from the outside to complement Millard, but he didn't provide very much at all. He played in 12 of the Vikings' 16 games in 1986, starting in four of them, and registered only 3.5 sacks in those games. Of those 3.5 sacks, 2.5 of them came in one game against the Chicago Bears.
In 1987, the strike season, Robinson appeared in only four games, and registered just one tackle during that time. In 1988, he was no longer a member of the Minnesota Vikings, instead winding up with the San Diego Chargers. With the Chargers, he registered just two sacks in two years (including only playing two games in 1988). He followed that up by playing four pedestrian seasons with the Los Angeles Rams before being out of the league at age 31.
When you're the 14th overall pick in the draft and you only last two years with the team that selected you. . .well, that's bad.
Thanks to everyone for following the first week of "bad" Vikings' draft picks. We'll have another week of bad picks. . .filled with some familiar names. . .before we get into the good stuff.
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