The email response from Barret Robbins said, “Just trying to lay low for now. Thinking about doing my own podcast soon.”
That was five years ago to a Facebook message asking if the former TCU and Oakland Raiders center would agree to an interview. He knew why any member of the media wanted to talk to him.
On the football field, he routinely beat his opponents in an All-Pro career. Off the football field, it was a troubled, sad existence full of drama, and pain.
Robbins’ struggles in life were well documented. Drug use. A bipolar disorder diagnosis. Prison. Assault. He was shot.
According to former Oakland Raiders teammate Tim Brown, Robbins died Thursday, March 26, at the age of 52. The cause of death has not been announced.
“[It is] with great regret I tell you I just received a call from Marissa Robbins informing me that Raiders All Pro center Barret Robbins passed away overnight,” Brown posted on his X account. “Thankfully, he passed peacefully in his sleep. Please pray.”
Oakland Raiders center Barret Robbins gets set to snap the ball to quarterback Rich Gannon during a game against the Cleveland Browns on Oct. 12, 2003, in Cleveland. This was the final season of Robbins’ NFL career. David Maxwell Getty Images
The Las Vegas Raiders said in a statement, “The Raiders Family is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Barret Robbins. Oakland’s second-round draft pick out of TCU in 1995, he was among the league’s top centers over nine seasons with the Raiders, earning first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors in 2002. He played in 121 career games with 105 starts, all with the Silver and Black. The thoughts and condolences of the entire Raider Nation are with Barret’s family and friends during this difficult time.”
Robbins was a standout center at TCU, where he played from 1991 to ‘94. As a senior, he was named first-team all-Southwest Conference. That was the TCU team that reached the Independence Bowl, its first postseason game in a decade.
A native of Houston, Robbins played in the 1994 Senior Bowl, and was the 49th overall pick in the 1995 NFL draft by the Oakland Raiders. Robbins played for the Raiders from 1995 to 2003. He was first-team All-Pro in 2002, and was voted to the Pro Bowl.
“To be All-Pro, that’s what I had been fighting for so, so long,” Robbins said in a 2011 interview with NBC Bay Area Sports. “To have that happen was very rewarding.”
On the eve of the Raiders playing Tampa Bay in Super Bowl XXXVII in January 2003, in San Diego, he mysteriously disappeared. He had been drinking hard 48 hours before kickoff, and didn’t stop “partying” on a bender that included a trip to Mexico.
While he came back shortly ahead of the game, he didn’t play. The Raiders lost, 48-21.
He later said he suffered a mental health episode as a result of not taking his medication. Neither his career, nor his life, would ever be the same.
“I was sick,” Robbins said in that interview. “I was in a bad state of mind. I was mentally ill, for sure.”
He came back to play nine games in the 2003 season, his final year in the NFL. In his career, he started 105 NFL games.
After that it was a prolonged series of events, including an incident where he punched a police officer, was involved in a shooting where he was shot three times, and was charged with attempted murder.
He was sentenced to probation for that incident, but eventually found himself in prison years later for drug-related charges.
In 2009, HBO’s “Real Sports” aired an extensive piece on Robbins’ struggles in life, and he admitted to a bipolar disorder diagnosis, as well as extensive drug use.
Most recently, he had been living in Florida, and there was an altercation where the police were called in 2020. That is the last known off-the-field incident Robbins was associated with, as he had been trying to lay low.
This story was originally published March 27, 2026 at 11:55 AM.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Mac Engel is an award-winning columnist who has covered sports since the dawn of man; Cowboys, TCU, Stars, Rangers, Mavericks, etc. Olympics. Movies. Concerts. Books. He combines dry wit with 1st-person reporting to complement an annoying personality.
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