Childhood taunts have fueled Robinson's rise. Discover how this drive forged a Super Bowl champion still playing with a relentless chip on his shoulder.
New Tampa Bay Buccaneers' defensive tackle A'Shawn Robinson grew up poor.
As a child growing up in Fort Worth, Texas, Robinson recalls being teased by his peers for not being well-off.
So what did he do to combat this?
"Whoop somebody's (expletive)," Robinson told Tampa reporters at his introductory press conference Friday.
"Every day," he said. "Every day, you said something I'd beat the (expletive) out of you. So, that's where that came from. Even in college. You joke around, I'm going to beat your (expletive). So that's just how I became, and I played the same way on the field."
Robinson, who the Bucs signed to a one-year, $10 million deal this past Tuesday, used his anger to become one of the top recruits in the country. As a result, he had the chance to play his college ball for the great Nick Saban at Alabama.
He whooped on SEC offensive linemen for three seasons, helping the Tide to a national championship in 2015, and then moved on to the NFL.
Robinson went 46th overall to the Detroit Lions and felt slighted for not going higher.
Given that he's made it to Year 11, it would be fair to say Robinson has done well for himself in the league. He also helped the Los Angeles Rams win a Super Bowl in the 2021 season.
But with all this success, Robinson has never lost the chip.
"That disrespect has always been with me my whole career," he said. "So every time I step on the field, it's to show people that disrespect isn't real. People say they like my game now or all that stuff, I don't really care. That chip's going to forever be there until I retire. That disrespect is who I am and why I live and play the way I do."
Robinson will turn 31 next Saturday, an age where he's old enough to be a locker room leader and young enough to produce on the field.
In fact, Robinson is seeing more reps in his early 30s than he was for a lot of his 20s.
He spent the last two seasons with one of Tampa's rivals: The Carolina Panthers. In 2024, he played 761 snaps per Pro Football Focus, the most of his career.
Last season, he played 702 snaps, which were the third most on the team. With this increased usage has come increased production. Robinson had a career-high 31 pressures in 2025, and in 2024, he had 24 pressures (second-most of his career at the time) and a career-best five sacks.
In Carolina, Robinson was used just as much in run defense as he was against the pass (720 run defense snaps over two seasons versus 740 pass defense snaps).
"Better with age," he said. "I'm like fine wine. The older I get, the better I get."
Robinson gives the Bucs another veteran presence up front to go with Vita Vea, who is entering his ninth season with Tampa and turns 31 next month.
If all goes according to plan, Robinson and Vea will also work with Calijah Kancey, a 25-year-old who has been a force for the Bucs when healthy, but has only played in 15 games over the past two seasons due to injury.
The Bucs helped themselves in every area of the front-seven during this free agency cycle.
Tampa needed help on the edge and got it by signing Al-Quadin Muhammed, who had double-digit sacks for the Lions last season.
The Bucs helped themselves at linebacker, too, by signing another former Lion in Alex Anzalone, a strong all-around LB who will either complement 36-year-old Lavonte David or help to replace him, depending on what the Bucs legend decides to do.
Robinson helped take away the NFC South from the Bucs in 2025, and now he is being paid to help them win it.
In 10 seasons, Robinson has been on some of football's worst teams (2019 Lions) and some of the very best (2021 Rams). He knows what a losing culture looks like and what it is like to be a champion.
So what does a winning culture look like?
"Just doing things and knowing that we have each other's back," Robinson said. "Going the extra mile, doing things together."
"The players are the ones that are out there," he said. "The coach can only tell us so much, and everybody else can tell us, but we're the ones out there. So we have to be able to understand and affect it together. So that's how it's always been for me, and that's how I've always seen it done to get the job that you want to get done to win."
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