Former Alabama running back is promoted by the Commanders.
The misfortune of one former Alabama running back is the opportunity of another former Crimson Tide ball-carrier with the Washington Commanders.
Because of a hamstring injury, running back Brian Robinson Jr. will miss Sunday’s game against the New York Jets, the Commanders announced on Friday.
With running back Jonathan Williams also sidelined due to a concussion, Washington signed practice squad running back Derrick Gore.
To make Gore eligible to play on Sunday, the Commanders had to add him to the 53-man active roster. Each NFL team can activate two players from its practice squad for each game. However, a player can only be promoted three times during the season, and Gore had hit his limit.
For the first time since 2021, Gore is on an NFL active roster during the regular season, when he ran for 256 yards and two touchdowns on 51 rushes and caught eight catches for 105 yards in 11 games with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Gore has two carries for 23 yards this season while playing 16 offensive snaps and 38 special-teams plays in three games for the Commanders.
Robinson rushed for 664 yards and five touchdowns on 160 runs this season and grabbed 29 catches for 326 yards and three scores while starting Washington’s first 13 games. Robinson, however, was unable to play in Sunday’s 28-20 loss to the Los Angeles Rams due to a hamstring issue.
Gore gained 108 yards on 24 running attempts as a walk-on at Alabama in 2015 and 2016. On December 3, 2016, he scored once for the Crimson Tide, sprinting 10 yards for a touchdown in Alabama’s 54-16 victory against Florida in the SEC Championship Game. In that game, Gore also blocked a punt, and Josh Jacobs picked up the bouncing football and returned it for a Tide touchdown.
Gore ran for 1,247 yards and 12 touchdowns on 295 runs after transferring to Louisiana-Monroe and caught 34 catches for 254 yards and one touchdown in two seasons before entering the NFL as an undrafted rookie in 2019.
Robinson, an All-State performer at Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa, stayed home to play at Alabama from 2017 to 2021. Robinson ran for 1,343 yards and 14 touchdowns on 271 rushes in his final season and grabbed 35 catches for 296 yards and two touchdowns.
Robinson was selected in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft by Washington. Despite missing the first four games of the season after being shot twice the day after Washington’s final preseason game, he led the Commanders with 797 yards and two touchdowns on 205 touches as a rookie.
