The Atlanta Falcons bolstered their backfield with the No. 8 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, selecting the nation’s top running back from last year, Bijan Robinson of the Texas Longhorns.
With that pick, the Falcons and head coach Arthur Smith are rolling with quarterback Desmond Ridder, who they selected last year in the third round. They also added Taylor Heinicke to battle for the starting role.
But the Falcons saw how well their run game worked last season with Cordarrelle Patterson and Tyler Allgeier, among others, averaging the league’s third-most rushing yards per game.
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Bijan Robinson of Texas participates in a drill during the NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium March 5, 2023, in Indianapolis. (Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Adding Robinson will only make that group much better.
Robinson’s talent was put into numbers at the NFL Scouting Combine, where he ran 4.46 seconds in the 40-yard dash, jumped 37 inches in the vertical and covered 10 feet, four inches in the broad jump, which solidified what many scouts believed: He’s the top running back in the class.
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Robinson is a model of consistency, improving each of his three seasons with the Longhorns. He led the way his freshman year with 703 yards and four touchdowns and finished his career with 1,580 yards and 18 rushing scores in 12 games last season.
He ran for 1,127 yards and 11 touchdowns his sophomore year.
Bijan Robinson (5) of the Texas Longhorns breaks a tackle by Devin Lemear of the Baylor Bears in the fourth quarter at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium Nov. 25, 2022, in Austin, Texas. (Tim Warner/Getty Images)
Evaluators also love how well Robinson can block in the backfield, making him the prototypical every-down running back.
“The more carries he gets, the more damage he does,” a personnel exec for an NFC team told NFL Network about Robinson. “I know it’s not popular, but I would draft him in the first round and just get him the rock as much as I possibly could. He’s a much tougher runner than Saquon (Barkley) was coming out.”
Bijan Robinson is introduced during the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft at Union Station April 27, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. (David Eulitt/Getty Images)
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Robinson, a native of Tuscon, Arizona, will quickly slot in as a dynamic offensive weapon for a Falcons offense that needs playmakers.
