The NFL’s Demarcus Robinson ruling has emerged. As expected, a suspension will commence in connection with the veteran wide receiver’s DUI case.
Robinson received a three-game suspension Wednesday, Kyle Shanahan said (via KNBR). Although this is certainly not surprising, it deals another blow to a depleted 49ers receiving corps. Robinson launched a preemptive appeal, but his suspension matches Jordan Addison‘s three-gamer for a DUI arrest.
Shanahan said the appeal process is not over, but the team is bracing for the three-game ban to stick. Robinson was arrested in November 2024 for suspicion of a DUI; by January, a formal charge emerged. In July, he pleaded no contest to set the stage for this suspension. Signing a two-year deal in free agency, Robinson is in line to miss games against the Seahawks, Saints and Cardinals.
This further limits the 49ers at receiver. San Francisco has Brandon Aiyuk on its active/PUP list, and a shift to the reserve/PUP list is all but assured for a player who did not suffer a clean ACL tear last season. Aiyuk recovery issues are set to delay his return until at least mid-October. That takes two 49ers weapons out of the mix, and it is not yet certain when Jauan Jennings will return from a calf injury.
Jennings has missed most of training camp due to his calf issue, with a contract push — a year after signing an extension as an RFA — clouding the 49ers wideout’s near future as well. Fourth-round rookie Jordan Watkins is also dealing with a high ankle sprain that could keep him off the field to open the season.
As a result, the 49ers are looking for help at receiver. The team traded Deebo Samuel in March, doing so while knowing Aiyuk’s outlook. At the time of the Samuel trade, San Francisco certainly expected to have Jennings available in Week 1. But that is not certain. This would place plenty of pressure on 2024 first-rounder Ricky Pearsall. While Pearsall — who recovered from a gunshot wound sustained last summer to play in 11 rookie-year games — could be complemented by the 49ers’ hopeful WR cast by midseason, the team will start shorthanded.
Robinson, 31 in September, spent the past two seasons with the Rams as their third receiver. Playing ahead of Tutu Atwell for most of his time in Los Angeles, Robinson combined for 57 receptions, 876 yards and 11 touchdowns from 2023-24. That stretch garnered the ex-Alex Smith/Patrick Mahomes Chiefs target an $8MM deal with a $6MM guarantee. This suspension would threaten to void that guarantee, which would affect Robinson’s 2026 money (as a vested veteran, his 2025 pay will lock in next month).
Make phone calls. Tyler Boyd. Alec Pierce. Somebody
Alec Pierce isn’t going anywhere, and no thanks to Tyler Boyd. Got a feeling Amari Cooper might be signing with them, maybe Gabe Davis
Nobody gets arrested for “suspicion” of a crime. They get arrested because they’re accused of the crime. The suspicion part is done with at that point; if someone is merely “suspected” of having done something, that’s not enough to arrest him/her.
Aside from that, three games seems fair. What would make Robinson’s situation different than Addison’s? Perhaos they think that the BAC was lower, and that justifies a lesser suspension? Maybe some argument involving the traffic offense that accompanied the DUI (some sort of extreme speeding or something?) on its face, it seems pretty fair to suspend Robinson the same amount of length as Addison. If somebody has more information on that aspect of the process, maybe they can educate me.
Yes they do. One of the definitions of the word suspect… “ a person thought to be guilty of a crime or offense.
Arrests require probable cause. Probable cause means that the crime occurred, and that the person arrested probably did it. That’s not suspicion, it’s an accusation. Suspicion that a person did something or knows something about a crime that may have occurred is enough to detain a person, but it is not enough to arrest a person or charge a person.
When that person goes to court, the state doesn’t say, We suspect this person of committing DUI.” They say “We accuse this person of committing DUI.” The state is convinced that the person did the thing that he/she is accused of. The charging officer needs to believe that the person committed the crime, not merely suspect it. I don’t think that the terminology (that is, the use of the word “suspect”) changes anything. Police are used to using that word, but after arrest, the case moves to a prosecution phase where suspicion is no longer a viable standard of proof. We may call the person a suspect at that point, but after being charged, that person really is a defendant. Reasonable suspicion doesn’t really have much to do with much at that point.