South Atlanta News

Bijan Robinson poised for standout season in NFL

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — No longer a rookie, Bijan Robinson is about to embark on his second season in the NFL, but could he lead the league in rushing yards?

ESPN's Ben Solak believes so.

The NFL analyst predicted that Robinson would finish the 2024 season No. 1 in rushing yards league-wide.

"I think Robinson is going to go through the roof this season," Solak wrote in his stat predictions article. "Last year's Rams relied heavily on running the ball... and both coach Raheem Morris and offensive coordinator Zac Robinson came from the Rams' staff."

The running back ended his rookie campaign just shy of 1,000 rushing yards, but he had 1,463 total yards from scrimmage.

After Robinson, Solak has Kyren Williams (Los Angeles Rams), Breece Hall (New York Jets), Zamir White (Las Vegas Raiders) and Travis Etienne Jr. (Jacksonville Jaguars) to round out his predicted top-5 rushing leaders.

San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey — who led the league in rushing in 2023 — ranked No. 6 in Solak's predictions. Throughout the offseason, Robinson has pointed to McCaffrey as a model for how this new Falcons offense intends to use him.

"I'm gonna be more of a runner that does everything else," Robinson said during OTAs. "It's run-first like I did in college and still having access to go be a receiver, to do creative things out of the backfield."

Solak also predicts other Falcons will rank high statistically this season. He projects quarterback Kirk Cousins to finish seventh in passing yards, wide receiver Drake London seventh in receiving yards and Matthew Judon No. 17 in sacks.

When it comes to seeing what Robinson and this offensive system can do this season, there's a lot of anticipation. We'll get the first taste of it Sunday versus the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 1.