Landon Robinson grew up in Ohio, in a family full of Cincinnati Bengals fans. His dad has rooted for them his whole life.
This year, the Bengals used the 226th pick in the draft, one of the very last picks of the entire draft, to take him. A kid who grew up cheering for them was suddenly on their team.
And the way he got there makes it better.
Robinson didn't take the normal path to the NFL. He went to the United States Naval Academy. At just 6-foot-0 and 295 pounds, undersized for an interior lineman, he was told his whole career that he was too small to matter.
He kept wrecking offenses anyway.
By his senior year in 2025 he was named a first-team All-American, the first Navy defensive player to earn that honor in 50 years, and the Defensive Player of the Year in his conference. He finished with 14.5 career sacks and was voted a captain by his teammates.
Still, the size questions dropped him all the way to the seventh round. Nearly every team in the league passed on him, some of them multiple times.
Then he got to camp and answered all of it.
During the preseason, Landon Robinson led the entire NFL in sacks with four, and in total pressures with ten. Not just the rookies. Not just the seventh-rounders. Everybody. He worked after practice with veterans like Dexter Lawrence, studied film obsessively, and forced a loaded Bengals defensive line to make room for him.
This week, he got the word. He made the 53-man roster.
And today, walking into his first NFL game, he didn't show up in a designer fit like everyone else. He came in his full Navy Service Dress, the whites, the whole thing, honoring where he came from before pro football ever called his name.
Because he isn't just a rookie. He's Marine 2nd Lt. Landon Robinson, commissioned after graduating the Naval Academy, and the first player the Bengals have drafted out of a service academy since 1968.
A Bengals fan. A Marine. The last pick in the draft, who led the entire league in sacks this preseason before he ever played a real down.
Some guys just refuse to be told no.
"Going back to Chicago for my first game back this year was shocking. It was a lot to take in and hard to receive...the love from the fans. I got to take it all in. It was a great reminder of how special those years were."
- Jonathan Toews
I-L-L!
Starting tonight, the #SkydeckChicago twin antenna
will be lit orange and blue through Saturday in
celebration of @illinimbb advancing to the National
Semifinals! Go Illini! 🧡💙🏀
We’ll miss you, “Muzz” ❤️
From all of us here at the Blackhawks, we extend our deepest condolences to Troy’s family and friends, our alumni and the many fans who loved him dearly
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