Derek Robertson Impresses NFL, CFL Scouts at Monmouth Pro Day

Derek Robertson arrived at Monmouth's pro day with something to prove beyond his arm talent. After a wrist injury ended his 2025 season early, the New York native used the workout to address outstanding questions about his health, size and athletic upside in front of NFL and CFL scouts, giving professional evaluators their first extended look at him since he went down.

The timing matters. Robertson heads into his final season of eligibility as one of the most productive quarterbacks in FCS history by recent output, but scouts had legitimate reasons to want a live look. He sustained the wrist injury in the third quarter of Monmouth's 49-21 win over Stony Brook on Oct. 18, 2025, left the sideline in a sling and was still wearing it at practice the following Wednesday. He did not travel for Monmouth's next game, a 28-10 road win over Hampton, marking the first game he had missed all season.

Even truncated, his 2025 numbers were staggering. Despite missing the second half of the Stony Brook game and the entire Hampton contest, Robertson led all of FCS with 2,482 passing yards and 27 touchdown passes. Rhode Island's Devin Farrell sat second with 2,406 yards, and Farrell had played two additional full games.

The 2025 production was a continuation of a historically dominant 2024 campaign. Robertson broke Monmouth's single-season records with 3,937 passing yards and 31 touchdown passes, completing 65 percent of his attempts on 283-of-435 throws. He led all of FCS in air yards per game at 328.1 and total offense per game at 325.3, threw at least one touchdown in every game, posted seven outings with 350-plus yards, and capped it with a school-record 536-yard, three-touchdown performance at Stony Brook. He finished sixth in Walter Payton Award voting that year.

The preseason recognition followed accordingly. Robertson earned All-American honors from Stats Perform, Phil Steele and FCS Football Central, was named CAA Offensive Player of the Year and a CAA All-Conference First Team selection, and landed on both the 2025 Stats Perform Walter Payton Award Preseason Watch List and the 2025 East-West Shrine Bowl 1000 Watch List. He became the seventh Hawk in program history to earn Walter Payton preseason recognition, joining David Sinisi (2008), Reggie White Jr. (2018), Pete Guerriero (2019), Kenji Bahar (2019), Juwon Farri (2021 and 2022) and Jaden Shirden (2023).

When Robertson went down against Stony Brook, Monmouth turned to redshirt freshman Frankie Weaver, who made his first career start against Hampton and finished 14-of-25 for 122 yards with an interception. The game was won on the ground. Sophomore Rodney Nelson posted a career-high 233 rushing yards with four touchdowns, seizing the FCS rushing lead with 1,238 yards on the season.

Coach Callahan kept the framing simple at his CAA press availability that Monday. "I don't know if it's as much about Frankie being quarterback as it is doing what you had to do win," he said. "It was a day where we thought we could run the ball."

Robertson's pro day performance won't show up in any box score, but for a quarterback who had scouts asking questions about durability, demonstrating full health and functional arm strength in front of professional evaluators was the only result that counted.