Falcons’ Bijan Robinson says he’s playing ‘everywhere’ at minicamp; why that likely won’t translate in games

rewrite this content material with complete duration and stay HTML tags When the Atlanta Falcons made former Texas operating again Bijan Robinson the No. 8 total pick out in the 2023 NFL Draft, they straight away rationalized the choice through pointing out that Robinson isn’t just a operating again. They stated he’s additionally a receiving weapon, and that they plan to make use of him that means. According to Robinson himself, Falcons head trainer Arthur Smith is transferring him round all the way through rookie minicamp, using him in a host of various roles. “He uses me everywhere, from receiver to running back,” Robinson stated, according to 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.” Robinson was once regarded as the most efficient and maximum entire operating again prospect now not simply in this yr’s magnificence, however arguably since Saquon Barkley. His versatility is a part of his attraction, and the theory of the use of him now not simply as a operating again, but additionally in the slot and even out large, is an attractive one. However, as we wrote after the draft, whilst groups say always that they need to use one operating again or some other this fashion, they infrequently practice thru at the communicate:  Anyway, the theory is that Robinson and [Jahmyr] Gibbs are so flexible and so explosive that you wouldn’t have to only play them in the backfield and hand them the ball. You can throw them the ball, and you’ll be able to line them up anyplace — together with in the slot and even out large. The factor there’s, smartly, that shouldn’t be truly a factor that occurs. For instance, consistent with Pro Football Focus, Robinson covered up slot or large on simply 32 snaps final season at Texas. That’s 2.7 snaps according to recreation. Gibbs covered up there significantly extra regularly, however even he did it on simply 90 events, or 7.5 snaps according to recreation. You would possibly suppose their NFL groups will make the most of them in that style significantly extra regularly, however the Falcons and Lions must dramatically scale up the use of operating backs in places out of doors the backfield from the place it’s been in fresh NFL historical past. Since 2017, simply 3 instances has a operating again covered up in the slot or out large for at least 10 snaps according to recreation: Christian McCaffrey in 2017, Tarik Cohen in 2019, and J.D. McKissic in 2020. That’s it. Cohen and McKissic have been part-time avid gamers whose roles have been near-exclusively about receiving, whilst that 2017 McCaffrey season was once his rookie yr, ahead of he was Carolina’s full-time starter at operating again. Even final season, with McCaffrey playing beneath position-less soccer aficionado Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco, he totaled simply 108 slot or large snaps in 17 games (6.4 according to recreation), and that determine led all operating backs league-wide. Unless the Falcons, Smith, and Robinson are going to dramatically alternate the best way operating backs are used, it is likely that Robinson will spend the majority of his time lining up in the backfield. And that is sensible, as a result of he’s a operating again. But if that fact involves cross, it’ll imply a part of the reason the Falcons used to choose him in the highest 10 may have been misguided.  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