FOXBORO, Mass. — This whole story was supposed to be a paragraph. Maybe two.

Follow up on what seemed like a throwaway line from a press conference five months ago. Tack that onto the bottom of some training camp observations, and call it a day.

Back in March, when Robert Spillane was one of four players introduced as part of the New England Patriots’ free-agent spending spree, the linebacker mentioned that he does “a lot of eyes-closed training.” But it’s hard to ask follow-up questions in formal press conferences, so the tidbit went unpursued. So on the first day of training camp, it was time to finally get an explanation.

“Oh, there are many layers to this program I’ve developed over the years,” Spillane said.

Program? Layers? Self-developed?

“Yeah, that’s one of the many unorthodox things that I do that has helped me get to where I’m at,” Spillane said.

Robert Spillane has 306 tackles over the last two seasons, including 17 tackles for loss.

The first walk up a small mountain probably looked normal to passersby. Just a dude in his late 20s on a hike.

But for Spillane, there was more to it than meets the eye. Notice where the rocks are, which way the ground tilts, which branches could leave a black eye.

The next day, Spillane returned — this time, to do it with his eyes shut. After that, another trip — this time, backward and blindfolded.

He’d done plenty of eyes-closed training in the past. He’s a middle linebacker praised for always being in the right spot.

For years, Spillane has believed his blind training was the reason for this.

It started by simply walking forward with his eyes closed. Then backward. Then barefoot, forward and back again.

Eventually, he took it to a football field. In a defensive playbook, he’d be told as the middle linebacker to drop to a certain landmark depending on the play. So he tried it with his eyes closed. Drop 4 yards in coverage, then 5 yards to the left. Do that successfully, then try jumping on one leg with his eyes closed.

“I didn’t really learn it from anybody, so it’s from the ground up, self-taught,” Spillane said. “It’s basically just a confidence drill. As a middle linebacker, you want to know where you are on the field at all times — within the positioning of the field, understanding the schematics, where the other players are around you. So you close your eyes and take away the most basic thing you use to understand that. You’ve really got to rely on your instincts and your trust.”

That takes us back to the woods. All the on-field, eyes-closed training was complete. It was time to take it to the next level. So Spillane, fresh off the three-year, $33 million contract he signed with the Patriots that changed his life, stood at the trailhead, shut his eyes and started walking.

It’s at this point in the interview that I had to pause. Is this real? You really shut your eyes and walk through the woods? You really developed this yourself and believe it makes you a better linebacker?

Even his new teammates had a hard time believing they weren’t being punked.

“When he told me that, I was like, ‘This has to be a joke,’” fellow linebacker Christian Elliss said. “There’s no way you’re walking backward up a mountain with a blindfold. But in his words, he was like, ‘I trust my body enough, and I trust my memory enough that I’ll make it up that mountain.’ And he did it, so what am I supposed to say to that?”

So, yeah, he insists it’s all real.

“Look, there are a lot of ways to be a successful football player,” Spillane said, “but I found trusting myself has been the best way to go forward.”

So he made up more … ahem … drills to prep for football during the offseason. He stood at the edge of a pool and fell in awkwardly to prepare his body for the contact in tackling. Then he upped the ante. Fall into the pool at a weird angle, then re-adjust his body, fall into a single-leg squat at the bottom of the pool and try to jump off of that. (He said he’s still searching for a pool in the area in which to conduct those drills.)

“Football is won with strong football positioning, and being able to get back to that when you’re out of position is really helpful,” Spillane said. “It’s a super explosive training without having to worry about impacts.”

Spillane is into Eastern medicinal practices. He has tried self-hypnosis. He meditates. Alternative medications. He leans on basketball for conditioning. He runs routes as if he were a wide receiver. (“If you can run the route, you can cover the route,” he said.) He joins wide receivers and cornerbacks for pass-catching drills.

Robert Spillane using the Jugs machine… is Mike Vrabel trying to turn his new linebacker into the new Mike Vrabel in the red zone? pic.twitter.com/meydmp3xga

— FitzyGFY 🍺 (brew checkmark) (@FitzyGFY) July 25, 2025

It’s all part of a self-developed plan for the 29-year-old father of two daughters, who has forged an unlikely path to the NFL. After four years at Western Michigan, he tested poorly at his pro day, which tanked his draft stock. He went undrafted, as teams were convinced his lack of athleticism would keep him off an NFL roster.

But a tryout with the Tennessee Titans in 2018 impressed then-head coach Mike Vrabel and earned him a training camp invite. Then the practice squad. Then some NFL games. Two as a rookie, eight the year after, 12 after that.

He’s not the biggest, fastest or strongest. But coaches loved that he was always where he was supposed to be.

Finally, his breakout came in the last two seasons with the Las Vegas Raiders. He ranked 10th in the NFL in tackles in 2023 (148), then fourth last season (158). Pro Football Focus graded him as the eighth-best run defender among 189 linebackers. The big contract from the Patriots followed — a full-circle moment with the coach who first put him on a roster. He’s still the guy who does everything asked of him and is always in the right spot.

That’s why Spillane was back at the base of that trail this offseason, ready to embark blindfolded. He succeeded, of course, journeying through the woods without seeing, left to use his other senses and his memory from the day before, even if the journey came with a stubbed toe or two.

“That is part of it, part of building those calluses — literally,” Spillane said. “Playing through pain, learning how to practice through pain, that’s all part of being a successful football player.”

Sure, it’s unorthodox. It draws confused looks and some snickers from teammates who hear about it. But maybe there’s something to the blind training. Maybe it’s what constantly puts him in the right spot on the football field. Or maybe it’s just a confidence thing, a boost for a player who has been doubted so often throughout his career.

Its efficacy might not be the point, though. What matters is that it helped an overlooked guy from a small college, long labeled unathletic, become one of the best tacklers in the NFL.

(All photos: Eric Canha / Imagn Images)