Minnesotans love to lament sports stars who got away. Just accept that as fact. From David Ortiz to Brandon Roy to even, yes, Tyler Thigpen, players who go on to even modest success when they “could have been ours” are much talked about. Usually. One exception to this rule, at least in our experience: Fred Robbins. Keen Vikings fans will remember that Robbins, drafted in 2000, was a steady defensive tackle with the Vikings for four years. And then, in March of 2004, he signed with the Giants. From a Strib story:

Former Vikings nose tackle Fred Robbins has signed a six-year deal with the New York Giants worth about $20 million, including a $4 million signing bonus.

“Let’s just say they aren’t bringing him in to be a backup,” said Robbins’ agent, Brian Mackler. “Fred had four great years in Minnesota, but there was just a difference of opinion as to whether Fred can start in this league.”

The Vikings were given the opportunity to match the deal but declined because they have targeted Houston’s 6-4, 320-pound Steve Martin as the backup behind Kevin Williams. Martin visited the Giants but probably won’t end up there, and the Texans are still in the running.

We don’t bring this up for any strong sentiment of regret; we don’t remember anyone being particularly heartbroken about losing Robbins at the time, and the Giants certainly thought higher of him than the Vikings did. The Vikings, too, have been fairly spectacular at the position recently with the Williams Wall. We would like to note, though, that SI’s Peter King released his All-Pro team today, and there two defensive tackles on the list: Albert Haynesworth and … Fred Robbins.

So there you go, Minnesota sports fans. Feel free to (belatedly) add him to your list of players who got away.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 at 5:16 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.