The Texans placed cornerback Dunta Robinson on the reserve/physically unable to perform (PUP) list Tuesday as they begin to trim their roster down to the 53-player limit.
NFL rules state that the cornerback must sit out six games before he can be re-evaluated by the team. Robinsons expects to be 100 percent for those tests and plans to return for the Texans' Week 9 game against the Minnesota Vikings.
Texans TV's Brooke Bentley caught up with Robinson to talk about how he is preparing for his return. Below is the transcript.
Brooke Bentley (Texans TV): Dunta, you were placed on the physically unable to perform list on Tuesday. It was something that you were expecting, but it had to have been hard on you.
Dunta Robinson: Yeah, it is because you want to get out there and play as soon as possible, especially on opening day. I haven't missed an opening day since I got here. It's a little disappointing, but it's for a good cause. I've still got some things that I've got to get right on. I still have to keep training as hard as I possibly can. I still have to move forward. Once those six weeks are up, I will be 100 percent by then and there won't be anything left to say but to go play football.
{QUOTE}My goal is to be back against Minnesota and playing as many snaps as I can possibly play, so that's the timetable now. That's the team that I'm going to start watching film on because nobody else matters to me because I won't be playing against them. I'm just happy to be talking about a comeback. With the way the things went with my injury at the time of the injury, to be at this point right now is a blessing and I'm just happy about that.
Brooke Bentley: Where are you in your rehab?
Dunta Robinson: I'm coming around third base and I'm headed home in my rehab. I'm doing everything on the field now, from covering receivers to all of my DB drills. Now I'm doing football things. The rehab is not as long and as strenuous as it was at one point, and I'm happy about that.
Brooke Bentley: Are you ready to start hitting?
Dunta Robinson: I'm definitely looking forward to hitting people. It's been a long time. I've never been away from football this long since I was seven years old. I'm definitely excited to be getting back into the mix of football.
Brooke Bentley: You haven't had any setbacks at all. Is there anything that has been hard for you to regain?
Dunta Robinson: No, nothing's been hard. It's just been reintroducing myself to stuff and relearning how to do stuff all over again. I'm a pretty quick learner so the first time I try anything, the second time is always a lot easier. That's the way everything that I've done as far as rehab goes. I just come in and I'm real steady at first and once I get the hang of it, I go at it full speed. So everything in the process from point A to B has been a good jump.
Brooke Bentley: You started your rehab in Alabama with Cadillas Williams, who is now on the PUP list. Have you talked to him or anyone else who was rehabbing with you?
Dunta Robinson: I keep in contact with some of those guys through text messaging. I kind of figured Cadillac would go on PUP because his injury was a little worse than mine and it happened I think a couple of weeks before I got hurt. But he had a pretty bad injury, so for them to put him on PUP and not injured reserve is a great thing. Carlos Rogers is now on the field. I saw him play last week. So most of the guys that I went through all the pain and agony with, those guys are getting back out on the field and it kind of motivates you.
Brooke Bentley: Some people have said that you will have to move to safety because you will have lost some speed. What do you have to say to those people?
Dunta Robinson: I'm a corner. Nothing will be lost. I'm going to go out there and do my job the way I've always done it. I can play safety, and to be mentioned as a safety is a good thing. But I'm a corner and that's until I retire.
Brooke Bentley: There used to be a time when people would watch you rehab and wonder if you would come back. Now, do you think people see it's just a matter of when?
Dunta Robinson: It's just all about the will and determination that I have. A lot of things I blocked out, but I believed in myself and I knew I could get better and I knew I could return. So when people were saying, "If he comes back," that was one of those things that went in one ear and out the other because I knew if I put my mind to it and I worked as hard as I possibly could, I knew I would be back. And I am almost there.
