Left tackle Greg Robinson is on a mission to redeem himself in 2017. The former No. 2 overall pick was a big disappointment in his first three NFL seasons. He was benched in 2016 and again dropped to the second team during OTAs.

When Detroit Lions second-year standout LT Taylor Decker went down with an injury, they traded a sixth-round pick to give Robinson a chance to make good on his elite potential.

He was expected to fight for the (temporary) starting spot in camp against the likes of Cyrus Kouandjio, Joe Dahl and undrafted free agent Storm Norton. Robinson had an impressive showing against the New England Patriots last Friday.

Kouandjio was released Tuesday.

Robinson was great on the left edge and seemed to have the Lions’ zone-blocking scheme nailed down:

The left tackle did a great job allowing Stafford room to operate in the pocket and instilled confidence in Detroit fans that they may survive without Decker for the first few months of the season.

His most impressive play of the game came in run protection:

He and tight end Darren Fells (No. 87) double-teamed the Patriots’ edge defender to steal room for Ameer Abdullah coming out of the backfield. Robinson was not done yet, though. He whipped around and threw the Patriots’ strong safety into the ground, giving Abdullah a free lane to the sideline. Behind the play, he took down New England’s strong-side linebacker, clearing as much room as possible.

Detroit has had an awful rushing attack for the better part of this decade, and it all starts with its run blocking. Seeing this kind of effort and skill from the new left tackle is uplifting if anything.

Robinson was not perfect, though, and had a few bad plays that day:

The left tackle came off the snap and immediately leveraged himself towards the inside. New England’s edge rusher easily navigated around him by using a swim move to the outside. Robinson was left in the dust and nearly committed a holding penalty trying to recover.

Properly positioning himself at the point of attack has haunted Robinson in the past, and he sometimes has issues balancing himself, which lets smaller, more agile rushers to burn him.

Later in the game, Robinson allows a man to separate from him and get a free run at Stafford.

Robinson met his man off the snap and initially held him at bay, but the Patriots’ rusher used the push-pull method to swing Robinson off balance. Robinson stumbled and couldn’t recover in time. The defender got a free run at Stafford and forced an errant pass.

Left tackle might be one of the most important positions on a team’s offense. When Taylor Decker went down, many feared much of the progress the Lions made this offseason may have instantly been undone. Robinson will probably not be as good as Decker was in his rookie season, but he should be good enough to get by.

For Detroit fans, that should be enough to save a few heart attacks this season.

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