Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Robert Spillane has always been known as a tough player.
But, there was a moment in his career where he was out-dueled.
Players often share stories of when they were rookies or young players learning the way of the NFL, and a veteran player ‘welcomed’ them to the league. That usually means laying a punishing hit or an embarrassing juke that made them hit the turf.
Spillane shared his "welcome to the NFL" moment on the latest episode of his teammate Maxx Crosby’s podcast, "The Rush with Maxx Crosby."
It happened when he was a practice squad member of the Tennessee Titans.
“I run out there 30 minutes early, I’m warmed up, I’m ready to go,” Spillane said. “We go into team periods, and then I get hit in the back and really kind of f--- up my knee. They say it’s a bad bone bruise, but at the same time, you’re an undrafted player who just got your first chance to get active.”
The Titans asked Spillane to play through the injury in a game against the Baltimore Ravens.
“I find a way to get onto the field at probably 60-70 percent of my abilities, which, when you’re at 60-70 percent of your abilities as an undrafted rookie in the NFL, you’re not really ready," Spillane said. "So, I go out on punt, and it happens to be punt safe, and I want to say [Matthew] Judon and one of the other huge 300-pound D-Linemen line up right across from me on punt safe, and they drive me back about 15 yards into the backfield, lay me on the ground, and say, ‘Welcome to the NFL.’”
Spillane elaborated on Judon and his teammate taking advantage of their experience.
“They had an awareness that I was a freshly activated guard on the punt team," he said. "They took advantage of me and that was like, ‘Damn, maybe this isn’t all it’s cut out to be.’ That wasn’t fun, but since then, we’ve been looking up.”
Spillane has come a long way since being an undrafted player out of Western Michigan in 2018. Maybe he will welcome a rookie to the NFL in a game down the line.
Click here to watch the full podcast episode with Spillane and Crosby.
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