NFL Re-Draft: Would Falcons Still Select Bijan Robinson?
The Atlanta Falcons season may not have ended with the team raising the Lombardi Trophy and popping champagne bottles. However, the team did manage to finish successfully in one regard: it nailed its No. 8 overall draft pick by selecting Bijan Robinson.
Some questioned whether it was too high to draft a running back at the time, but throughout Robinson's rookie season, he would prove his skeptics wrong by consistently churning out highlight reel plays.
Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson (7) carries the ball against Indianapolis Colts safety Nick Cross (20) during the first half at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
There were some who questioned whether it was too high to draft a running back at the time, but throughout Robinson's rookie season, he would prove his skeptics wrong by consistently churning out highlight reel plays.
Robinson finished the season with 1,463 yards from scrimmage (Top-10 in the NFL) and had eight touchdowns while also establishing himself as one of the best-receiving backs in the entire league.
In a recent story doing a redraft of the NFL's first round, Bleacher Report still had the Falcons taking Robinson with its pick, indicating that, in hindsight, he was the perfect player to take at that spot.
"Positional value is a fair point to consider, but Bijan Robinson lived up to the hype when the Falcons bothered to, you know, play him," BR wrote. "Robinson rushed for 976 yards, caught 58 passes for 487 yards, and totaled eight touchdowns. Atlanta's new coach will have a superstar in the backfield."
As for that new coach, Raheem Morris is a brilliant defensive mind, and if there's one thing that defensively minded coaches tend to love, it's dominating time of possession by feeding the run game, so perhaps next season, Robinson will have even more opportunities with the Falcons to prove why he's a talent that defies positional value.
