Dolphins' Chop Robinson: I don't put pressure on myself being first-round pick

MIAMI GARDENS — He could have been just any other rookie — even an undrafted one — by the way he was talking.

But Chop Robinson isn’t just any Dolphins rookie. He’s their first-round draft pick, the first rookie in three years who can say that. Come the fall, all eyes will be on him, especially with uncertainty over how quickly fellow edge rushers Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips might bounce back from season-ending injuries.

“I don’t put any pressure on myself,” Robinson said Friday. “I just come here, keep my head down and be humble and just work. Be confident, humble and work — that’s my main thing. Don’t change who I am. Be the player I am, be the guy I am.”

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Robinson just arrived in South Florida on Thursday, then hustled to the facility for medical exams. He hasn’t had a chance to check out the local scene, but he doesn’t sound like the type of player who’s big on that, anyway.

“Honestly, everything is just ball,” he said. “If I’m not in the facility, if I’m not watching football, I’m probably playing video games.”

And if he’s playing video games, it’s Madden.

This rookie minicamp, on the other hand, is his first taste of the NFL for real.

“I think that’s why it really hasn’t hit me yet,” he said. “It will probably hit me when I get a break or something like that in the summer. Right now, just ready to work.”

It’s not that the past few months have been spent on the couch. Robinson trained in Arizona where a workout buddy was Mo Kamara, a pass rusher from Colorado State coincidentally taken by Miami in the fifth round.

“He always talks trash,” Robinson said. “Everything he was doing in training, whether it’s like get-offs or the sled pushes or we’re in the weight room, he always wants to compete. I’m fine with it. Because pushing me is pushing him.”

Robinson was only marginally familiar with standout Dolphins pass rushers Jason Taylor and Cam Wake (who also attended Penn State). He said he’s focused on Nick Bosa and T.J. Watt because their style matches his.

“Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips — I’ve been watching those guys since I was in high school and I know what type of players they are since they were in college,” Robinson said. “I know they want greatness every day. So that’s what I’m chasing, too.”

He’ll do it wearing No. 44. It’s the number he wore in college and the number he had on Friday. Last season, Dolphins long snapper Blake Ferguson owned the number.

“I just talked to him to ask him how much 44 meant to him,” Robinson said.

Apparently not a lot. No cash was exchanged.

“I appreciate him for that,” Robinson said.

Robinson was taken 21st overall. He made no secret he was hoping to be drafted by Miami. Meaning he was ready for the heat, both figurative and real.

“This is definitely different,” he said, standing in the shade outside the team’s training facility as the thermometer read 90 en route to 96. “So I can’t wait for it.”

Dolphins reporter Hal Habib can be reached at hhabib@pbpost.com. Follow him on social media @gunnerhal. Click here to subscribe.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Dolphins' Chop Robinson: I don't put pressure on myself being 1st-rounder