Brad Robbins, who has added the quietest 16 pounds this side of a baggage fee, has returned to training camp with a changed game after an all-out offseason commitment to erase his rookie year.
Now 220 pounds and fresh off an NFL punting summit in San Diego earlier this month with the likes of boomers such as A.J. Cole III and Cam Johnston, Robbins is looking to blast his way through the competition with rookie free agent Austin McNamara and keep the job he won last year as a rookie in a new-found power groove.
"Last year I was trying not to mess up. That's kind of how most rookies do … I wasn't swinging through the ball," said Robbins, a cerebral and reflective sort mulling last year's 44.3 yards per punt that was near the NFL cellar.
"I was taking aggressive angles to the sideline. I was swinging not to mess up rather than commit. At this point, I'm playing aggressively. I know I'm a good punter. I know I'm one of the top guys in the league and I know I can become one of the top guys in the league. It's a matter of me proving it in camp and the season."
Even before Robbins attended former kicker Nick Novak's Pro Week with about a dozen or so NFL punters, Bengals special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons had been encouraged by Robbins' improvement during spring ball.
"We identified some things for him to improve. A, getting the ball down the field at the times we need him to," said Simmons before camp began this week. "I think he did do that through OTAs. He showed a more explosive leg, he showed he could get the ball down the field better. Now we've just got to go do that in games."
Watching Cole, the Raiders' three-time Pro Bowler, and Johnston, a notorious bomber currently with the Steelers, helped Robbins produce even more power with some new technique. He watched Cole stretch the ball out to his foot and how Johnston keeps his technique even though he hits it "110 percent."
Now Robbins counts himself as a 110 percenter and not 85 or so.
"When people tell you, hey, swing harder, you lose your form, you start coming across your body. You're not swinging at anything," said Robbins of his work with Johnston. "But he's like, 'Well, I want you to swing 110%, but just swing through the target line. Try to jump through your target line instead of just swinging through the ball.' And that allowed me to just unlock a little more power. "
It's along the same lines as Cole telling him about getting his hips through the ball. They both noticed when Robbins held the ball tightly to his body before putting it on his foot, he would tend to lose the ability to drive the ball by leaning back.
"Pushing out the ball further onto my foot is allowing my hips to clear through the ball a little bit better and allow my full body to actually get through the ball," Robbins said.
As he watched the punts fly and listened to the words roll at the camp, it made an impact.
"I think the biggest thing is I'm missing further down the field when I hit a ball that's not ideal. It's just a lot further," Robbins said. "Last year I was hitting them shorter and higher trying to limit returns. But I feel like I've kind of changed my game to be more directionally sound on the sideline and further down the field. That's kind of how you're measured in this league. By how far you hit the ball down the field and how much you limit returns."
And, he says the added weight that has come via work in the weight room as well as gallons of protein has been a big boost.
"The reality is you play in the AFC North," Robbins said. "It's always outside. It's going to be cold. It's going to be windy. The more weight you can put on, the more mass you put behind the ball, the further it's going to go."
He can feel the confidence he didn't have last year oozing.
"I'm going to take my shot," Robbins said.
