Falcons RB Bijan Robinson excited with place in Arthur Smith’s offense: ‘He uses me everywhere’

The Falcons recently made Bijan Robinson the first running back drafted in the top 10 in five years, and he’s already certain they know how to use him.

Speaking Friday during Atlanta’s rookie minicamp, the No. 8 overall pick touched on how head coach Arthur Smith is going to deploy his many talents.

“He uses me everywhere, from receiver to running back,” Robinson said, via ESPN. “He lets me do my abilities and skill set the right way, whether it’s catching the ball, running routes, obviously running the football, blocking and doing it all.”

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Robinson punched his ticket to Atlanta by putting together a stellar career as a Texas Longhorn with 3,410 rushing yards and 33 rushing touchdowns, plus another 805 receiving yards and eight scores through the air with a 13.4 yards per reception mark.

He was second in the FBS with 1,894 scrimmage yards in 2022 on his way to winning the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s top RB.

His union with the Falcons, the NFL’s most run-happy team last season with a league-leading 559 attempts, made too much sense to pass up during April’s draft. Their 4.9 yards per carry placed fourth in the league, although the three teams ahead of them — the Bears (5.4), Ravens (5.2) and Bills (5.2) — all had averages somewhat propped up by stellar scrambling quarterbacks.

Atlanta’s new do-it-all RB opens up even more avenues to exploit defenses from the backfield, and his game is a natural complement to Tyler Allgeier. Robinson displays more burst, with a proclivity to do major damage in the passing game, but Allgeier packs a punch. And the second-year back already proven more than capable of taking some load off Robinson when needed during the upcoming grind of a rookie campaign.

Allgeier led the club in rushing last season with 1,035 yards, scoring three touchdowns on 210 carries.

“It was all love from the start,” Robinson said about meeting his new running mate. “I was just like, ‘Yo, bro, like, I’m just happy to be here. Happy to get to work with you and kind of pick your brain on certain things and be a guy that will just compete, and we’ll both have fun in that offense.'”

If everything clicks into place for the Falcons, there’s plenty of fun to be had beyond the running back room. Kyle Pitts is still a danger at tight end despite a down sophomore effort, and Drake London looks to have WR1 chops after pacing the team with 866 receiving yards as a rookie.

They’ll all coalesce around quarterback Desmond Ridder as the offensive youth movement keeps on trucking in Atlanta.

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