Coming out of Texas, RB Bijan Robinson was one of the most hyped players in the 2023 NFL Draft. He had pretty much everything you would look for in a rusher, with the vision, speed and athleticism to completely change games out of the backfield. When the Falcons drafted him early in the first round, everyone expected him to make an instant impact for Atlanta and be the lead back immediately.
That wasn’t really the case last year, as he largely split a ton of carries with RB Tyler Allgeier, which hurt his value in everyone’s fantasy league and ripped up a lot of over bets on his player prop tickets. Head coach Arthur Smith seemed almost hesitant at times to use him, and put him in some really puzzling situations that perhaps weren’t his strong suit. Smith was also fired after last season, and now, new head coach Raheem Morris has flipped the switch.
Robinson received 23 of the Falcons’ 26 backfield opportunities in Week 1, so I think he listened to what a lot of people said last season. That tied the max amount of touches he has had in his pro career. He finished with 18 carries for 68 yards while adding a team-best five receptions for 43 yards in Atlanta’s 18-10 loss to the Steelers.
It is clear that the new coaching staff is willing to seriously tap into Robinson’s potential, which is immense, and that should make a lot of Atlanta fans happy this year. Moving forward, he should be in weekly consideration in player prop markets. He touched the ball on 46% of the offensive snaps in Week 1, and whenever you have a workload that high, overs are bound to start hitting in the future.
Still, Morris would not commit to that kind of workload going forward for Robinoson in his postgame interview with reporters. Obviously, the loss hurt the Falcons, but it certainly wasn’t on Robinson. Pittsburgh has a great defense, and new QB Kirk Cousins didn’t look fully healed from his injury.
I would wait before buying into Robinson for a lot of coin, but it is undeniable that he looks to be in a better overall position this season than he was last. Atlanta will take on the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football in Week 2, a defense that looked very vulnerable last week against Green Bay.
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