How the Falcons are trying to tap into Bijan Robinson's ‘home run' potential

New York Times

a day ago

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — When the Atlanta Falcons used the No. 8 pick of the 2023 NFL Draft on Bijan Robinson, it was the first time in five years and just the sixth time in the previous decade that a team picked a running back in the top 10.
The reason, the Falcons said, was simple: 'Bijan's more than a running back,' then-head coach Arthur Smith said. 'He's an impact football player. He's a home run hitter.'
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Robinson is entering his third year in the league, and Atlanta believes this is the season he starts hitting those home runs. The University of Texas alumnus was third in the NFL in rushing last season with 1,456 yards, fifth in rushing touchdowns (14) and seventh among running backs in yards per carry (4.8). In his two years in the league, only Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley and Kyren Williams have more rushing yards.
Robinson's 3,350 yards from scrimmage in the last two seasons (his rushing total plus 918 receiving yards on 119 catches) are third behind only Barkley and Henry. He was the league's offensive rookie of the year in 2023 and a Pro Bowler in 2024.
He has been almost everything the Falcons hoped for when they made him their highest drafted running back since they picked Joe Profit seventh in 1971. The only line of Robinson's resume that is lacking is the home runs the team predicted. What he has so far been is the league's most dynamic doubles hitter.
Robinson's longest career run was a 38-yarder against Jacksonville in October of his rookie season. He's had three runs longer than 30 yards. Fourth-year Falcons backup running back Tyler Allgeier has four career runs of more than 30 yards, including three of more than 40 yards in his rookie season.
'That's the next step, obviously,' Robinson said. 'We all want it. I've been working on it a lot this offseason, and when the season comes, it's time to go show it.'
Entering seasons, Robinson has always set almost impossibly high goals for himself. One year in high school, he wrote down that he wanted to gain 3,500 rushing yards that season. He has called this year's rushing goal 'outlandish.' He declined to share specifics, but he has never been shy about measuring himself against the league's best at his position.
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Last offseason, he said he wanted to emulate the impact of San Francisco's Christian McCaffrey. This year, he's chasing the type of season Philadelphia's Saquon Barkley had in 2024 when Barkley had 10 runs of 30 or more yards and six of 50 or more yards on the way to a Super Bowl championship.
'We are all waiting for that Saquon-type season when it comes to explosives,' Robinson said.
Not only waiting for it but working for it. Much of the offseason emphasis for the Falcons' offensive coaching staff was focused on getting more breakaway runs from Robinson.
'That is a jump that we want to take,' offensive coordinator Zac Robinson said. 'That's definitely something we are emphasizing as an offense.'
Robinson led the NFL in missed tackles forced with 117 last season, according to Next Gen Stats, and both Zac Robinson and running backs coach Michael Pitre have emphasized his gift for making defenders miss in tight spaces. Now, those coaches want him to create more of those situations when he gets to the third level of the defense by getting closer to defenders before committing to a path.
'You're showing him clips and saying, 'Maybe we could close the space on this free safety and not make the move from 8 to 10 yards away,'' Zac Robinson said. 'How can we press that guy's toes to make him feel uncomfortable? Nobody is better in the NFL at making short-area quickness moves on defenders. I think it's just showing him the clips, emphasizing it.'
The Falcons' coaching staff could also help Robinson with more interior run calls instead of the wide zone that was so prevalent last season. While wide zone runs highlight Robinson's natural cutback ability, they also can help out defenders down the field because having Robinson near the sideline takes away some of his options for avoiding defenders.
Bijan Robinson with good blocking ahead for six 💪
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— NFL (@NFL) December 8, 2024
The athletes that Bijan Robinson is facing once he breaks into the secondary are better than the ones he's facing closer to the line of scrimmage, and he needs to always be aware of that, Pitre said.
'I think it's about truly understanding what gives the defense an issue and what puts them in conflict and having to realize that guys at this level are able to redirect if you make your move too early,' Pitre said. 'The conflict happens when you step on their toes, close the distance.'
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Robinson was tied for 22nd in the NFL last season with five runs of 20 or more yards. In the last two years, he is tied for eighth with 12 such runs.
'Our challenge as coaches is how do you recreate the things that show up in games,' Pitre said. 'It's drill work, it's film study. If you watch all his carries, he's done it. How do we do it more consistently? That's what we're trying to get done. I'm not overly worried about it. I think that is his next step. That's his next evolution as a player.'
Robinson is coming off the highest workload of his career — 304 carries and 61 catches — but he doesn't expect any physical repercussions because of it, even though the 300-carry threshold has been tough on running backs. That total has been topped 15 times in the last 10 years. Six of those came last year. In the nine seasons it happened before that, only one (Derrick Henry in 2019 and 2020) had more rushing yards the following season. In the other eight seasons, the backs had an average dropoff of 695 yards the next season.
While Morris said the Falcons have to be aware of Robinson's workload 'to protect that type of elite athlete,' quarterback Michael Penix Jr. entered training camp urging more touches for his star running back.
'He has to touch the ball a lot each and every single game,' Penix said. 'Once he gets that ball, you don't know what's going to happen, but you know it's going to be good. We've got to get him the rock; it's as simple as that. He's going to help us win ballgames.'
Robinson said last week he felt better than he ever has after nearly a month of workouts with Christian McCaffrey in Studio City, Calif., this offseason.
'It was really cool,' Robinson said. 'I got to see how he worked. He got to see how I worked and we got to put it together. It was really cool, two guys coming together to just make each other better. He taught me a bunch of nuanced moves.'
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The most valuable part of the experience for Robinson was seeing McCaffrey's recovery regime, Robinson said.
The program consisted of pool workouts, a red light therapy bed and a newly designed hyperbaric chamber called a Stratosphere.
It was like 'we were 18,000 feet in the air, but we were in a machine,' Robinson said. 'It was like the coolest thing ever.
'I am going to continue doing that because I felt super, super great this summer, and it was all because of how we came back and recovered our bodies,' Robinson said.
Zac Robinson and Pitre both express optimism that Bijan Robinson's home run total will jump this year. Bijan Robinson believes it, too.
'I work on it every single day,' he said. 'I've been gifted to do stuff like this. Me and (Pitre) joke all the time, we're done with 30-yard runs. Now it's time for 50 yards, 60 yards.'