Even Sean Payton Shocked To Hear About Saints Player Retiring

Usually, a player retiring at this point in training camp isn't all that shocking. We've seen it happen time and time again, but Saints cornerback Patrick Robinson announcing his retirement still shocked the staff in New Orleans.

Heck, even head coach Sean Payton was surprised. He admitted to reporters that he didn't see it coming at all.

Payton said, via The Spun: "He's played in this league a long time. He and I spoke for about half an hour, and he's had a great career. He's been smart with his money and it was something that deep down inside he felt."

Like I said, player retirements, even close to the start of the season, isn't all that surprising. Payton acknowledged that as well.

“It’s not unusual, really, in training camp," Payton added. "It’s happened a number of times. It’s hard to ever see somebody and how they’re feeling. When you have a large group of players like this, someone who has played as long as he has, he felt comfortable with his decision and certainly, we respect that. He’ll get on to his next chapter and we go from there.”

Robinson has been in New Orleans since 2018. He's been an important part of the secondary, but he's turning 34 years old in September. In his mind, it was time to hang the pads up, and he'd already set himself up financially to make that possible.

Good for him.

The Saints drafted Robinson in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He spent five seasons there before moving on to play for the Chargers (2015), Colts (2016) and Eagles (2017) before coming back to New Orleans back in 2018.

His deal was worth $20 million over four years.

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Follow Clint Lamb on Twitter @ClintRLamb.