Robinson's breakout year vaulted him into a new echelon.
Will McFadden
Ahead of the 2025 NFL season, sports sites across the country are rolling out lists of the top players at each position.
ESPN senior NFL writer Jeremy Fowler recently unveileda ranking of the top NFL running backs, polling a number of league executives, coaches and scouts for the piece. The Falcons have two starting caliber running backs on their roster, but Bijan Robinson vaulted himself into the upper echelon of all NFL players with his performance in 2024.
Robinson's breakout year, which resulted in 1,887 scrimmage yards and 15 total touchdowns, cemented him among the top young stars in the league, but where does it leave him in the running back pecking order? The group Fowler polled slotted Robinson fourth behind Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry and Jahmyr Gibbs.
"Size, speed, acceleration, pass game, value, breaks tackles, can hit home runs," one NFL coordinator told Fowler for the piece. "He's a nightmare to prepare for."
The main point of contention for fans would likely be with Robinson falling below Gibbs in these rankings. That is likely partially due to the amount of team success Detroit has enjoyed the last two seasons, but Fowler also notes that his 20 touchdowns last season also played a factor.
Still, Gibbs is firmly in a tandem with David Montgomery, while Robinson has established himself as the No. 1 back in Atlanta. The home-run speed Gibbs offers is a game-changing element, but so too is Robinson's ankle-breaking agility. Perhaps the best way to differentiate the two is by saying that Robinson is going to offer a higher batting average but Gibbs will hit more home runs.
There's a note in Fowler's piece that is worth calling out for its own merits:
"Robinson entered the league with considerable expectations and has largely met them," Fowler writes. "He's one of three players in NFL history to produce 2,400 rushing yards and 100 receptions in a player's first two seasons, joining Pro Football Hall of Famers Edgerrin James and LaDainian Tomlinson."
It's apparent to anyone who has watched Robinson on a football field that he has rare gifts. Seeing his name alongside those two particular players helped cement the specific lineage Robinson might just belong to. Like Tomlinson and James before him, Robinson is a true all-purpose running back who threatens defenses in every imaginable way.
Tomlinson led the NFL with 2,370 all-purpose yards in his third season, and if Robinson gets anywhere close to that number this fall he might very well find himself atop this list in 2026.
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