CHARLOTTE — A'Shawn Robinson was at home after the 2024 season concluded, recovering, unplugging, resetting, and he was mad.

Or rather, in his words, "angry."

Why?

"Didn't get the chance to go dance," he said, referring to the NFL playoffs. "And I like to go dance, so."

During his nine-year career thus far, Robinson has been to the playoffs three seasons: 2016, 2020, and 2021. He's played in seven postseason games, going 5-2 in that stretch, including winning a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams in the 2021 season.

Once someone has ascended the mountain once, it's hard to come back down. What made it worse for Robinson, at least this past season, was watching two teams in the Super Bowl—the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles—knowing the Panthers had both teams on the ropes in the fourth quarter of their regular season matchups. And knowing both games were winnable.

"Watching everybody else and watching the teams that we played against and watching those two teams that made it to the 'chip, how we played against those teams, just knowing that we lost those games because we didn't finish," Robinson recalled Tuesday following the Panthers' latest training camp practice.

"We didn't do things correctly to uphold and to achieve the goals of getting the 'W.'"

Versus the Chiefs in Week 12, Carolina had the defending champs backed up on their own 45-yard line, in a tie game with 48 seconds remaining. Patrick Mahomes got loose on a 33-yard scramble that allowed the Chiefs to run out the clock and kick a game-winning field goal.

Against the Eagles in Week 14, Bryce Young and Xavier Legette couldn't connect on an open ball at the goal line in the waning seconds. And on the other side of the ball, Saquon Barkley ran for 124 yards.

"That just fueled me to want to come back and do more, not only for myself, but for others, for everybody, so that way I can be the best leader I can be," Robinson expressed.

"Being 10 years in the game and giving back what I can give and learning from whatever I can learn from others, you know, you're never too old, never too young to learn anything, as long as we can keep growing as a team and we can achieve the things we want to achieve."

His urgency to get back to the field comes even after a season when he played more snaps on defense than any other season in his entire career (762 total snaps, 66 percent of the defensive snaps). This happened because Robinson was playing more on third down than he'd previously been asked to do.

The extra snaps didn't bother him, though, as it gave him the chance to be involved in more pass-rushing plays, something he has wanted to do for a while.

"I accept the challenge that comes to me," he preached. "God gives his toughest battles to his toughest soldiers, so I don't really complain about anything that's been given to me. I feel that I worked my whole career to get something like that, and I got the opportunity."

Even if defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero elects to have Robinson pass-rush more again this coming season, he will get a bit of a spell at least. The Panthers added to the line this offseason, bringing in his former Rams teammate Bobby Brown III and former Chiefs lineman Tershawn Wharton, not to mention the addition of a recovered Derrick Brown, which is like adding a top free agent.

"It's great, you know, keeping consistency high and being able to have no drop off and relying on your brothers and trusting one another and going out there and dominate, it's a great feeling to have that counterpart next to you to be able to do those things," Robinson said, adding of Brown, "He demands a lot and it frees up a lot for others."

Robinson already has the background with Bobby Brown, but the dynamic with Derrick Brown is an interesting one as preparations for the season continue. Brown and Robinson have spent the past year in meeting rooms together, watching film, and talking during practice. But they took only a handful of snaps together last season, in the Week 1 game against the Saints before Brown was hurt, and have only had two full practices together on the line this offseason.

"I feel we have chemistry still," said Robinson, "even though, you know, OTAs and all that stuff—yeah, we didn't have a year on the field, but the knowledge that we both uphold and understand and can communicate to each other without even saying a word, I think that those things matter.

"But when you get to the field you do got to still build that chemistry and I think we are building those things."

The Panthers have about five and a half weeks before that chemistry is put to the test. Much of this defensive rebuild hinges on the D-line gelling together. And as the old head in the unit, A'Shawn Robinson is already excited about what that will look like.

"How hard they work and how hard they push each other," Robinson said of when he knows a unit can have success. "And not just one person thinking about themselves, but thinking about the D-line as a whole, as a defense as well.

"I feel the defensive line helps win those games in the late rounds, not having those guys cover so long and giving the DBs opportunities to jump plays and not be out there stuck on an island just chasing around. I feel like that helps extend our longevity of getting things accomplished and getting things achieved."