Six years ago, Robert Nkemdiche signed with Ole Miss as the No. 1 recruit in the country. In 2016, he was a first-round pick by the Arizona Cardinals.
But Nkemdiche’s NFL career may not even see a fourth season.
The Cardinals released Nkemdiche this summer after he showed up to training camp in horrible shape and failed a physical. He suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 14 of last year, and that evidently stalled his ability to remain in football shape.
With the Miami Dolphins the latest team to take a chance on Nkemdiche, it’s really not looking much better for the former first-round pick. According to The Miami Herald, Nkemdiche was in such poor shape that he was unable to complete a single gasser before Thursday’s preseason game with the Jaguars.
Gassers are sideline-to-sideline sprints, and they’re popular with coaches at the high school level and … uh … Freddie Kitchens. But these aren’t 100-yard (and back) end zone sprints — we’re talking about a 106-yard total run here for a professional athlete.
It’s not a good sign that Nkemdiche, who is on the active/PUP list, couldn’t do that.
