In a move that should not come as a big surprise the Packers have released receiver Koren Robinson.Robinson joined the Packers on Sept. 12, 2006 after being let go by the Vikings. He had 21 catches for 241 yards with one touchdown last season and finished second on the team with 25 kickoff returns for 596 yards.

Robinson’s departure from Minnesota has been well documented. He was released after leading police on a chase at speeds up to 120 miles per hour down Hwy. 169 as he tried to make an 11 p.m. training camp curfew on Aug. 15 in Mankato. Robinson’s blood-alcohol level was .11, above the legal limit.

He had earned a Pro Bowl berth the previous season with the Vikings — that earned him a three-year, $12.7 million deal after the year – and appeared to have turned his life around after multiple violations of the NFL’s substance-abuse policy and alcohol-related driving arrests resulted in a four-game suspension in 2004. That had happened when Robinson was with Seattle.

The incident in Minnesota led to a one-year suspension by the NFL that was lifted in October of last season. Robinson also served parts of a 90-day jail sentence in three different prisons after agreeing to be sentenced on a felony charge of fleeing police in return for seven other charges being dropped.

Robinson received a two-year deal from the Packers when he signed in 2006 but played in only four games before being suspended. It was clear that Robinson and former Packers quarterback Brett Favre developed a close relationship.

Mark Craig of our paper did a story on Robinson last November in which the receiver thanked the Vikings for the role they played in his life.  

“Thank you, Minnesota Vikings,” he said in the Packers locker room. “Thank you, Coach Brad Childress.”

Craig wrote that reporters laughed. Robinson did not. “Y’all are laughing, but I’m very serious,” Robinson said. “The way I look at it, if I was with the Minnesota Vikings, I don’t know if I would have really gotten over the hump as far as getting to the place or being the person God wants me to be. So I’m very serious when I say I’m thankful to them. I’m blessed that it happened.”

Robinson’s exit from Green Bay had been speculated on by the NFL Network and others. That came after the team selected Kansas State’s Jordy Nelson with its first pick of the draft in the second round, and Brett Swain of San Diego State was added in the seventh round. This leaves 13 receivers on the Packers roster, including Donald Driver, Greg Jennings and Ruvell Martin.

Pro Football Talk had an item about Robinson’s release earlier today and also followed up on the move once it became official.

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