Bijan Robinson Will Win Race for No. 1 in Key NFL Stat

Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson entered the final week of the season with a substantial lead in the race for who would lead the NFL in yards from scrimmage in 2025.

Christian McCaffrey of the 49ers briefly took the lead last week after a 181-yard effort against the Chicago Bears last Sunday. But Robinson answered with 229 yards against the Rams in front of a nationally televised audience in the Falcons' win.

Robinson carried a 184-yard lead going into the final week of the season, and the Seattle Seahawks' defense shut down McCaffrey and the 49ers on Saturday to the tune of just three points and 59 total yards from their star running back.

McCaffrey is in the clubhouse with 2,126 yards, while Robinson has 2,255 and a chance to extend his lead on Sunday against the Saints.

What happens next for the Atlanta Falcons? Don't miss out on any news and analysis! Take a second, sign up for our free newsletter, and get breaking Falcons news delivered to your inbox daily!

Obviously, when speaking of the Atlanta Falcons, it can be dangerous to assume any lead is too big, but with McCaffrey out of the race, Robinson, with 2,225 yards, holds a 301-yard lead over No. 3 Jonathan Taylor and 358 yards over No. 4 James Cook.

Impossible? No

Realistic? Also no

With the yards from scrimmage title a formality at this point, Robinson and the Falcons turn to their game against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday to chase history.

Robinson already took the Falcons' franchise lead in the stat last week, doing so in 16 games. The previous record of 2,176 was previously held by William Andrews and was set in 1983. Robinson did it with 42 fewer touches than the workhorse Andrews, despite playing the same number of games.

Robinson is within reach of NFL royalty with a big game against the Saints on Sunday. With 175 yards, Robinson would move ahead of Marshall Faulk into second place all-time behind Chris Johnson. He's averaged 191 yards from scrimmage the last three games.

If we really want to get greedy, he's 254 yards behind Johnson for the No. 1 spot.

What about the argument that Robinson is getting 17 games while the other players only got 16?

It's a valid point, but let's also take into consideration how much the game has changed for a running back over the last 10 years. 25 carries a game for a lead back used to seem like normal.

Jonathan Taylor leads the NFL in attempts per game at 19.3 in 2025. Saquon Barkley was an anomaly last year at 21.6 carries per game; he was the only player over 20.

Taking a look at the top 45 seasons in scrimmage yards, only four times did a player have fewer touches than Robinson's current total of 348. Incredibly, Marshall Faulk did it three times, including his first season with the Rams' Greatest Show on Turf in 1999. Faulk racked up 2,429 yards from scrimmage on just 310 touches, arguably the greatest running back season in NFL history.

The only other player on the list is the legendary Jim Brown, who had 315 touches in 14 games in 1963. It's pretty obvious that with two more games, he would have passed Robinson's total of 348, leaving only Faulk in the apples-to-apples comparison.

No matter where Robinson finishes on the all-time list, it's been a special year for him, despite another disappointing Falcons' finish in the standings. There was a lot of teeth-gnashing from national media when he was selected No. 8 overall.

Three years later, getting him at No. 8 looks like a bargain.