Patience and positivity pays off for Raiders’ Amik Robertson in third season

By Case Keefer (contact)

Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022 | 2 a.m.

No one has more fun in the Las Vegas Raiders’ locker room than Amik Robertson.

Some days, the third-year cornerback is the loudest and bounciest presence at the team’s Henderson headquarters as he makes his rounds talking and joking with teammates. On others, he’s taking on all comers in cornhole, a game in which he considers himself the Raiders’ undisputed champion.

He’ll let everyone know about it, too, but even the trash talk can’t stop him from appearing to be one of the most universally liked players on the roster.

“Even when you’re working hard, you’ve got to go out there and have fun with it,” Robertson said while resting in his locker stall recently. “That’s just the kind of person I am. I try to bring energy, happiness, whatever I have to do to cheer my teammates up and make sure everybody is having fun with it. Always been that way — high school, college, pros, same ol’, same ol.”

It’s been easier for Robertson to be cheerful this season, though. After struggling in the first two seasons of his NFL career, he’s now thriving after appearing to find his place in first-year defensive coordinator Patrick Graham’s scheme.

Injuries have forced the former fourth-round pick out of Louisiana Tech into the starting lineup in two of the last four games, and there’s been virtually no drop-off in overall performance of the secondary. The 5-foot-8 Robertson may not have the pure coverage skills of Rock Ya-Sin (who missed last game with a knee injury) or Anthony Averett (on injured reserve with a broken thumb), but his knack for big plays makes up for it.

It's been regarded as his best skill since his days in high school in Thibodaux, La., and has started coming across in Las Vegas this season. Robertson has two of the team’s three takeaways on the season including a 68-yard fumble recovery touchdown that was in many ways the difference of Sunday’s 32-23 win over the Broncos.

“I’ve always been a ballhawk,” Robertson said.

That label now holds extra special meeting to the cornerback because one of the first things Graham told the defensive backs he was looking for upon taking the job was “ballhawks.”

Robertson knew he could provide that even if no one else did. From the outside, it looked like he might not make the roster this year after never finding a consistent role under either defensive coordinator Paul Guenther in his rookie season or successor Gus Bradley last year.

Robertson was pressed into action on a few occasions his first two years but targeted relentlessly by opposing quarterbacks, and often successfully. He admitted his own positivity started to wane when he was inactive for five of the Raiders’ final seven games last year, but he stayed committed in practice and yearned for another chance.

He realized he found and was capitalizing on that chance early on with Graham, whose defense he said was sinking in “easier” for him during training camp.

“Maybe it’s the coaches’ patience because (Graham and defensive backs coach Chris Ash) coach that way, and McDaniels is a patient coach too, and when you’re patient, that helps a player be successful,” Robertson said. “Of course, they’re still hard on us, but I think I took a lot of stuff from last year and brought it up to this year and put it all together with stuff I learned this year to play faster and simplify everything.”

Patience can be rare in the NFL, where the average playing career lasts about three seasons. That span is even shorter for a defensive back, meaning not all players like Robertson get a third chance — especially when three different defensive staffs cycle in.

But not many players earn it like Robertson has either.

“He earns everything he gets there because he plays so hard and with such great effort,” McDaniels said. “He’s just really a pleasure to coach, a guy who brings it every day, wants to get better and does it in every area.”

It hasn’t been expedient but Robertson is finally getting the recognition many thought he was destined for because of his electric playing style in college. He was the first player interviewed when the locker room opened to media after the Broncos’ win, with cameras swarming to him.

He was also the last player still talking, graciously sticking around for late-arriving reporters and surely answering the same questions multiple times but doing it with a smile and an appreciation for the moment. It’s the same attitude that’s so endeared him to teammates, and the same attitude that’s helped pave the way to his breakthrough.

“I’ve always loved him,” Raiders quarterback Derek Carr said of Robertson. “He’s the guy that we say is constantly trending upwards. And I just (love) his personality and to see him make plays for how hard he works.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or