Bijan Robinson is special

[williemackgarza 1826]

The boy went to Bijans camp last week in RRock. Even got to go 1 on 1 with him. Was cool. Bijan was really great with all the kids. Never looked tired or annoyed and hugged, fist bumped or high fived everyone that would come up to him. I know he had to be tired after 4 hours but he was all smiles the whole time. Never looked at a phone from what I saw. Great longhorn!
Hook em bijan.

[LTtxfan 48727]

Bijan is such a great ambassador for Texas Football.

Just really hope he doesn't end up in Philly

[TrashMaster G 17301]

45 minutes ago, Michael Knight said:

He's gonna be an Eagle

 

 

[Roy] FUCK!! [/Kent]

[Had Enough 2023]

Bijan is such a great ambassador for Texas Football.
Just really hope he doesn't end up in Philly

Ain’t no better rep for the Horns than having a Super Bowl MVP.

What do you have against that?

[LTtxfan 48727]

Meet Bijan Robinson, a generational NFL draft talent in the wrong generation

6:00 AM CT   Hallie Grossman ESPN Writer

Quote

IT'S LATE MARCH, one month until the 2023 NFL draft, and Bijan Robinson is in South Philadelphia, tucked into an office in the Eagles' practice facility with one of his potential future bosses: Howie Roseman, the team's general manager. Robinson is the best running back in this year's draft -- the space between the former Longhorn and his peers is, conservatively, Texas-sized -- but Roseman has one request:

Pitch me, he says. Why do I need to take you at No. 10?

The question is expected; Robinson's rejoinder is not.

"You're not going to get a running back," says the most lauded running back prospect in years. "You're going to get a difference-maker."

It's clear Robinson has read the writing on the wall. It isn't so much writing as it is a billboard. A billboard with pulsating neon lights.

Robinson isn't just the premier (whispers) running back in this draft; he might be the best athlete in this draft, period. He isn't just the most electric (hushed tones again) running back in 2023; he is the most tantalizing prospect at the position since Saquon Barkley. Or is it Adrian Peterson? No matter, NFL brass and analysts and fanatics on message boards are name-dropping Robinson, at 21 years old, among the sport's heavyweights before he has even joined the league.

He is the best the draft has to offer -- this year, but in most years, too. He just won't be drafted like he is. No. 1 overall? Out of the question. Top 5? Slim-to-none odds. Top 20? Getting warmer. Out of the first round entirely? Unlikely, but not inconceivable, either. (Since the common draft era began in 1967, three drafts have featured zero running backs in the first round -- all in the past 10 years.)

Robinson offers no inkling that he's vexed by his lot in NFL life. He smiles easily -- so big it looks like he might pull a cheek muscle; so often he once earned the nickname Smiley on his youth football team, for goodness' sake. Whatever the opposite of Bill Belichick's default grimace is, Bijan Robinson has that.

"If you have me as the best player in the draft," he says, "then that's a cool thing." (Smile.)

You could forgive Robinson if he were to bemoan his rotten timing. Some team, at some time, most likely on Day 1, will snag Robinson. He'll still be selected higher than some 90% of his peers. He'll still earn the millions coming his way. He's doing great. But the chasm between the caliber of his athletic prowess and his commensurate draft prospects as a running back has never been wider.

There was a day, in the not-all-that-distant past, when Robinson wouldn't have had to lobby hard for a spot at the top of the draft. "A lot of people tell me that," he says. "'Bro! If this was 2006, you would be the No. 1 overall pick. It wouldn't even be a question. You would be the guy.'" (Smile bigger.)

But in 2023, lobby he must. So Robinson, the Longhorns' fourth unanimous All-American running back, gives Roseman the hard sell.

He's a guy who can create mismatches. He can line up in the backfield, sure, but also on the outside. He can field a handoff, but he can run a route like a receiver and catch like one too. And he'll make a difference, he vows. In football, but outside of the game, to boot.

That's one hell of a pitch, Roseman says.

Robinson is heartened by Roseman's effusiveness, but not starry-eyed about it either. "You can make the best pitch ever," he says. "And it's still, like, 'All right, we'll see you on draft day.'" It's not quite don't call us, we'll call you. But it's not not.

For here's the Gordian knot -- and conventional NFL wisdom -- he cannot unravel: Bijan Robinson is a generational talent, arriving on the scene in the wrong generation.

TWO WEEKS BEFORE the draft and that faceoff with conventional NFL wisdom, Robinson sits in a lounge high up in an Austin apartment complex. Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium sits off in the distance, as does the state capitol. It's peaceful up here, and Robinson says he is at peace.

He has done what needed doing. He has advocated for himself. He has put together game film that thrills.

To wit: Time was winding down in the first half against Oklahoma in October when Robinson took a handoff, ran to his left, came to a dead stop, dropped into a literal squat, basically levitated an inch over the grass, then sprang up from his stance to try to bounce to the outside. The play was an abject failure -- minus-3 yards on the carry -- but it makes Tashard Choice, the Longhorns' running backs coach, downright giddy.

"He gets so low that his butt cheeks about touch the ground," he says. "I watched it on tape and I had to go over it again and again. It was unbelievable."

The body control. The balance. It's the stuff of general managers' wildest fantasies, but that's not the play Bijan Robinson wants those GMs to see. Have a look at this one instead:

One week later at home against Iowa State. Lined up at slot. Going on a post route -- a real post, mind you, that running backs don't usually run. He broke off the safety, then corralled an overthrown ball, one-handed, midair. He loves this one because Texas coach Steve Sarkisian trusted him to be the main receiver on the play; and his quarterback, Quinn Ewers, trusted him enough to throw a contested ball his way; and he trusted himself to come down with a circus catch.

"That's when I feel like your value is so much greater than just being a running back," he says.

Take note: The fact that he elevates this moment is as illuminating as the moment itself. What Robinson is saying without really saying it, is that yes, he is hyperaware of the reality he's rushing into. If you are a running back in 2023, even an elite one, and all you bring to the table is the ability to mow down or blaze by defenders for yards on the ground, you are a relic.

Of course, if anyone could say, "Hey! No! Counterpoint!" Robinson, on paper, is the man most up to the task.

By just about every measure, Robinson has been a marvel. A sampling: He forced 91 missed tackles last season, more than any other player in college football. He ripped off eight runs of 30-plus yards, second among Power 5 running backs. And he averaged 3.9 rush yards after contact -- a number so productive that if he averaged that total at the next level, he'd be a pretty solid NFL rusher. (Alvin Kamara, for reference, ran for 4.0 total yards per carry last year.)

"His floor, probably, in the NFL is a 7 out of 10," says Eric Eager, the vice president of consumer strategy for SumerSports, a network of executives and data analysts that helps NFL teams optimize their roster building. "His ceiling's a 10 out of 10. And that distinction still doesn't overcome the structural imbalances of the way the league's put together."

A 7! That's a basement with some sweeping views, and a penthouse for a ceiling, and it still might not be enough to convince NFL decision-makers to touch the third rail of modern draft thinking: selecting a running back high in the first round. Why? Pick your poison:

Economics: Paychecks for the league's top running backs have stagnated; those at other premier positions have ballooned, and the NFL's slotted draft system -- the higher the pick, the higher the payday -- means that if your favorite NFL team selects Robinson in the top 10, he will instantly become one of the highest paid at his position before ever taking a snap. But if you tap a wide receiver and he hits? Hoo boy, that's when you get a $30 million asset (Ja'Marr Chase! Justin Jefferson!) for the bargain price of single-digit millions.

Evolution: We've come to understand just how much running backs don't really control their own destinies on the field. They need help -- that is to say, blocking -- and are often tasked with making something out of nothing. Or they get to capitalize on everyone managing a job well done, and a lot of running backs -- first-round picks or otherwise; Bijan Robinson-level or not -- can do that capitalizing.

Strategy: The variance between a very, very good passing game and a very, very bad one is so much steeper than the gap between their running counterparts. (Kansas City, the best passing offense in EPA per dropback in 2022, won the Super Bowl and was 0.36 points better than the league-worst Colts. The gap between the best and worst rushing attacks, in terms of EPA per designed rush, and accounting for running backs only, was a swing of just 0.19 points -- nearly half as big.) And that matters. Mike Giddings, owner and president of Proscout Inc., which offers its counsel to a dozen NFL teams, color codes NFL prospects. Blues are your can't-miss guys, and a survey of the past 20 Super Bowl winners reveals: Every team had a blue quarterback. Every team had a blue wide receiver. Eleven had a blue running back in the fold.

You see? It's bleak out there for a running back. Even one like Bijan Robinson. He either will be drafted well below where his talent, in a vacuum, merits ... or will be drafted that high and then will face an onslaught of outlandish demands. What would Robinson have to do to make a top-10 nod look like a pick well spent?

"He probably has to be the best running back in the league, at minimum, right?" proposes one NFL staffer.

"He'd have to have Christian McCaffrey's career with no injuries," Eager says. "So, like, 1,000 yards in both rushing and receiving every year." (That is, achieve every year what only three players have done in the history of the NFL: McCaffrey in 2019; Marshall Faulk in 1999; Roger Craig in 1985.)

In other words: a running back? In this economy?

Except, a running back is all Robinson has ever wanted to be.

WHEN ROBINSON WAS 10 or 11, his grandfather, Cleo, thought his grandson should consider switching to quarterback.

Cleo was more father than grandfather -- as a kid Robinson called him dad -- and the man chiefly responsible for bringing football into his life. He was also Robinson's person. Robinson lived in his grandparents' home in Tucson, Arizona, growing up, with his mother, LaMore Sauls, and his aunt, Cleyrissa; he stayed in that home even when his mother got married and moved out. Now he walks like his grandfather (according to his grandmother, Gerri) and is slow to speak up like his grandfather (according to everyone) and loves football like his grandfather, who spent three decades as a referee in the Pac-12. Cleo once brought home three of Reggie Bush's game tapes, and LaMore would slide them into the VCR before bedtime.

"It would either be that or SpongeBob," Robinson says.

Practically every birthday gift Robinson ever wanted or received was a football, and Cleo would often settle into the sofa only to find a ball hurtling toward him. They played so much catch indoors that Gerri wound up with two boxes full of all the glassware they shattered with errant throws. Vases. Picture frames. A lamp. She saved those boxes and rescued them from storage recently because she's sending the shards to an artist who will create a collage. Gerri intends to have Robinson hang the recycled artwork, which she's already christened "All the Broken Pieces," in his new home once he's drafted.

By the time Robinson was in fifth grade, those throws became less errant and his skill had skyrocketed to the point where Cleo -- who had seen the likes of Andrew Luck and Matt Leinart and Carson Palmer pick apart his conference -- told him, "I think you need to work out at quarterback."

Robinson, Cleo says, was insulted. Wounded at the mere idea. "Nooo way," he told him. "I am a running back. Period."

He has always, it seems, been the position's fiercest ambassador.

Back then, Cleo says, Robinson was set on staying a running back because a quarterback gets rid of the ball and he wanted that ball in his hands; all these years later, he's still committed because he's so good at having the ball in his hands, he can't imagine doing anything else.

And so a running back he remained. He ran for 2,000 yards in three straight seasons in high school, which brought out the heaviest hitters in college football -- Jim Harbaugh and Ryan Day visited; so did Brian Kelly and Lincoln Riley. But when Texas came calling and he met Stan Drayton, the running backs coach at the time, he couldn't imagine going anywhere but Austin. Even at a time when the Texas brand had lost some of its luster. That was part of the draw: He wanted to help return Texas to greatness. Now he'll set out to do the same for running backs -- or at least their brand.

"I would love to be in that position to make the position as valued as it used to be," he says.

There are a lot of smart people who would call that a fool's errand. That he's wading into a debate that he became the face of but had no hand in creating.

Can he do it? Should he do it? Is there room for a running back at the top of the draft, even if he's the absolute best the position has to offer? Like so much else about the NFL, the two sides are decidedly not understated.

"Short of your team literally having no needs other than running back, I don't see a point," Eager says.

"Sometimes you can't pass up those guys," counters Tashard Choice. "You can't pass up Barry Sanders if he's sitting there."

Wedged in the middle is Robinson, who will leave the discourse to everyone else and keep that ball for himself.

AND WHAT IF they do pass him up? What if the camera pans to Robinson and his family in Kansas City on Thursday night as one team, then the next team, then the one after that, neglects to call his name?

"The thing about me is, whatever happens, it's just ... going to happen," he says. "I'm going to still be smiling."

If they pass up Bijan Robinson, the question will live on for another day, another draft. Will we ever see another running back taken in the top 10?

Does it matter?

"It's hard to quit running backs," says the same NFL staffer who deemed rushers worth top-10 capital only if they wind up the best in the league. But rationality can't always compete with romanticism, and he admits there's something nostalgic and gauzy about running backs. They feel like quintessential football.

Maybe that's why, on an otherwise unremarkable day in late March, a segment of the Eagles fan base took to the airport. When Robinson touched down and stepped off the plane, he walked out to applause from fans in his path and a message: "We need you out here."

For a moment, the debate and the conventional NFL wisdom and all that noise gave way to a different kind of clamor: appreciation. For this moment, at least, he was a running back who was very much valued.

He has finished his pitch. Roseman is either sold or not. Other GMs are either sold or they are not. But that applause and that message were Robinson's reminder. Some team at some point is going to pick him and that will be the place where he belongs. He's sure of it.

"This is the right timing for everything," he says.

Even if it's the wrong time.

 

 

Why Todd McShay has the Eagles taking Bijan Robinson...

https://www.espn.com/nfl/draft2023/story/_/id/36234668/why-bijan-robinson-break-nfl-draft-running-back-bias

[TrashMaster G 17301]

Goddammit.

[markstanco 12449]

Bijan is such a great ambassador for Texas Football.
Just really hope he doesn't end up in Philly

Will be hard to root for him if so. Giants or Washington, yea more so in the division. But not the city of brotherly shove.

[Eskimohorn 5571]

Meet Bijan Robinson, a generational NFL draft talent in the wrong generation
6:00 AM CT   Hallie Grossman ESPN Writer

IT'S LATE MARCH, one month until the 2023 NFL draft, and Bijan Robinson is in South Philadelphia, tucked into an office in the Eagles' practice facility with one of his potential future bosses: Howie Roseman, the team's general manager. Robinson is the best running back in this year's draft -- the space between the former Longhorn and his peers is, conservatively, Texas-sized -- but Roseman has one request:
Pitch me, he says. Why do I need to take you at No. 10?
The question is expected; Robinson's rejoinder is not.
"You're not going to get a running back," says the most lauded running back prospect in years. "You're going to get a difference-maker."
It's clear Robinson has read the writing on the wall. It isn't so much writing as it is a billboard. A billboard with pulsating neon lights.
Robinson isn't just the premier (whispers) running back in this draft; he might be the best athlete in this draft, period. He isn't just the most electric (hushed tones again) running back in 2023; he is the most tantalizing prospect at the position since Saquon Barkley. Or is it Adrian Peterson? No matter, NFL brass and analysts and fanatics on message boards are name-dropping Robinson, at 21 years old, among the sport's heavyweights before he has even joined the league.
He is the best the draft has to offer -- this year, but in most years, too. He just won't be drafted like he is. No. 1 overall? Out of the question. Top 5? Slim-to-none odds. Top 20? Getting warmer. Out of the first round entirely? Unlikely, but not inconceivable, either. (Since the common draft era began in 1967, three drafts have featured zero running backs in the first round -- all in the past 10 years.)
Robinson offers no inkling that he's vexed by his lot in NFL life. He smiles easily -- so big it looks like he might pull a cheek muscle; so often he once earned the nickname Smiley on his youth football team, for goodness' sake. Whatever the opposite of Bill Belichick's default grimace is, Bijan Robinson has that.
"If you have me as the best player in the draft," he says, "then that's a cool thing." (Smile.)
You could forgive Robinson if he were to bemoan his rotten timing. Some team, at some time, most likely on Day 1, will snag Robinson. He'll still be selected higher than some 90% of his peers. He'll still earn the millions coming his way. He's doing great. But the chasm between the caliber of his athletic prowess and his commensurate draft prospects as a running back has never been wider.
There was a day, in the not-all-that-distant past, when Robinson wouldn't have had to lobby hard for a spot at the top of the draft. "A lot of people tell me that," he says. "'Bro! If this was 2006, you would be the No. 1 overall pick. It wouldn't even be a question. You would be the guy.'" (Smile bigger.)
But in 2023, lobby he must. So Robinson, the Longhorns' fourth unanimous All-American running back, gives Roseman the hard sell.
He's a guy who can create mismatches. He can line up in the backfield, sure, but also on the outside. He can field a handoff, but he can run a route like a receiver and catch like one too. And he'll make a difference, he vows. In football, but outside of the game, to boot.
That's one hell of a pitch, Roseman says.
Robinson is heartened by Roseman's effusiveness, but not starry-eyed about it either. "You can make the best pitch ever," he says. "And it's still, like, 'All right, we'll see you on draft day.'" It's not quite don't call us, we'll call you. But it's not not.
For here's the Gordian knot -- and conventional NFL wisdom -- he cannot unravel: Bijan Robinson is a generational talent, arriving on the scene in the wrong generation.

TWO WEEKS BEFORE the draft and that faceoff with conventional NFL wisdom, Robinson sits in a lounge high up in an Austin apartment complex. Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium sits off in the distance, as does the state capitol. It's peaceful up here, and Robinson says he is at peace.
He has done what needed doing. He has advocated for himself. He has put together game film that thrills.
To wit: Time was winding down in the first half against Oklahoma in October when Robinson took a handoff, ran to his left, came to a dead stop, dropped into a literal squat, basically levitated an inch over the grass, then sprang up from his stance to try to bounce to the outside. The play was an abject failure -- minus-3 yards on the carry -- but it makes Tashard Choice, the Longhorns' running backs coach, downright giddy.
"He gets so low that his butt cheeks about touch the ground," he says. "I watched it on tape and I had to go over it again and again. It was unbelievable."
The body control. The balance. It's the stuff of general managers' wildest fantasies, but that's not the play Bijan Robinson wants those GMs to see. Have a look at this one instead:
One week later at home against Iowa State. Lined up at slot. Going on a post route -- a real post, mind you, that running backs don't usually run. He broke off the safety, then corralled an overthrown ball, one-handed, midair. He loves this one because Texas coach Steve Sarkisian trusted him to be the main receiver on the play; and his quarterback, Quinn Ewers, trusted him enough to throw a contested ball his way; and he trusted himself to come down with a circus catch.
"That's when I feel like your value is so much greater than just being a running back," he says.
Take note: The fact that he elevates this moment is as illuminating as the moment itself. What Robinson is saying without really saying it, is that yes, he is hyperaware of the reality he's rushing into. If you are a running back in 2023, even an elite one, and all you bring to the table is the ability to mow down or blaze by defenders for yards on the ground, you are a relic.
Of course, if anyone could say, "Hey! No! Counterpoint!" Robinson, on paper, is the man most up to the task.
By just about every measure, Robinson has been a marvel. A sampling: He forced 91 missed tackles last season, more than any other player in college football. He ripped off eight runs of 30-plus yards, second among Power 5 running backs. And he averaged 3.9 rush yards after contact -- a number so productive that if he averaged that total at the next level, he'd be a pretty solid NFL rusher. (Alvin Kamara, for reference, ran for 4.0 total yards per carry last year.)
"His floor, probably, in the NFL is a 7 out of 10," says Eric Eager, the vice president of consumer strategy for SumerSports, a network of executives and data analysts that helps NFL teams optimize their roster building. "His ceiling's a 10 out of 10. And that distinction still doesn't overcome the structural imbalances of the way the league's put together."
A 7! That's a basement with some sweeping views, and a penthouse for a ceiling, and it still might not be enough to convince NFL decision-makers to touch the third rail of modern draft thinking: selecting a running back high in the first round. Why? Pick your poison:
Economics: Paychecks for the league's top running backs have stagnated; those at other premier positions have ballooned, and the NFL's slotted draft system -- the higher the pick, the higher the payday -- means that if your favorite NFL team selects Robinson in the top 10, he will instantly become one of the highest paid at his position before ever taking a snap. But if you tap a wide receiver and he hits? Hoo boy, that's when you get a $30 million asset (Ja'Marr Chase! Justin Jefferson!) for the bargain price of single-digit millions.
Evolution: We've come to understand just how much running backs don't really control their own destinies on the field. They need help -- that is to say, blocking -- and are often tasked with making something out of nothing. Or they get to capitalize on everyone managing a job well done, and a lot of running backs -- first-round picks or otherwise; Bijan Robinson-level or not -- can do that capitalizing.
Strategy: The variance between a very, very good passing game and a very, very bad one is so much steeper than the gap between their running counterparts. (Kansas City, the best passing offense in EPA per dropback in 2022, won the Super Bowl and was 0.36 points better than the league-worst Colts. The gap between the best and worst rushing attacks, in terms of EPA per designed rush, and accounting for running backs only, was a swing of just 0.19 points -- nearly half as big.) And that matters. Mike Giddings, owner and president of Proscout Inc., which offers its counsel to a dozen NFL teams, color codes NFL prospects. Blues are your can't-miss guys, and a survey of the past 20 Super Bowl winners reveals: Every team had a blue quarterback. Every team had a blue wide receiver. Eleven had a blue running back in the fold.
You see? It's bleak out there for a running back. Even one like Bijan Robinson. He either will be drafted well below where his talent, in a vacuum, merits ... or will be drafted that high and then will face an onslaught of outlandish demands. What would Robinson have to do to make a top-10 nod look like a pick well spent?
"He probably has to be the best running back in the league, at minimum, right?" proposes one NFL staffer.
"He'd have to have Christian McCaffrey's career with no injuries," Eager says. "So, like, 1,000 yards in both rushing and receiving every year." (That is, achieve every year what only three players have done in the history of the NFL: McCaffrey in 2019; Marshall Faulk in 1999; Roger Craig in 1985.)
In other words: a running back? In this economy?
Except, a running back is all Robinson has ever wanted to be.

WHEN ROBINSON WAS 10 or 11, his grandfather, Cleo, thought his grandson should consider switching to quarterback.
Cleo was more father than grandfather -- as a kid Robinson called him dad -- and the man chiefly responsible for bringing football into his life. He was also Robinson's person. Robinson lived in his grandparents' home in Tucson, Arizona, growing up, with his mother, LaMore Sauls, and his aunt, Cleyrissa; he stayed in that home even when his mother got married and moved out. Now he walks like his grandfather (according to his grandmother, Gerri) and is slow to speak up like his grandfather (according to everyone) and loves football like his grandfather, who spent three decades as a referee in the Pac-12. Cleo once brought home three of Reggie Bush's game tapes, and LaMore would slide them into the VCR before bedtime.
"It would either be that or SpongeBob," Robinson says.
Practically every birthday gift Robinson ever wanted or received was a football, and Cleo would often settle into the sofa only to find a ball hurtling toward him. They played so much catch indoors that Gerri wound up with two boxes full of all the glassware they shattered with errant throws. Vases. Picture frames. A lamp. She saved those boxes and rescued them from storage recently because she's sending the shards to an artist who will create a collage. Gerri intends to have Robinson hang the recycled artwork, which she's already christened "All the Broken Pieces," in his new home once he's drafted.
By the time Robinson was in fifth grade, those throws became less errant and his skill had skyrocketed to the point where Cleo -- who had seen the likes of Andrew Luck and Matt Leinart and Carson Palmer pick apart his conference -- told him, "I think you need to work out at quarterback."
Robinson, Cleo says, was insulted. Wounded at the mere idea. "Nooo way," he told him. "I am a running back. Period."
He has always, it seems, been the position's fiercest ambassador.
Back then, Cleo says, Robinson was set on staying a running back because a quarterback gets rid of the ball and he wanted that ball in his hands; all these years later, he's still committed because he's so good at having the ball in his hands, he can't imagine doing anything else.
And so a running back he remained. He ran for 2,000 yards in three straight seasons in high school, which brought out the heaviest hitters in college football -- Jim Harbaugh and Ryan Day visited; so did Brian Kelly and Lincoln Riley. But when Texas came calling and he met Stan Drayton, the running backs coach at the time, he couldn't imagine going anywhere but Austin. Even at a time when the Texas brand had lost some of its luster. That was part of the draw: He wanted to help return Texas to greatness. Now he'll set out to do the same for running backs -- or at least their brand.
"I would love to be in that position to make the position as valued as it used to be," he says.
There are a lot of smart people who would call that a fool's errand. That he's wading into a debate that he became the face of but had no hand in creating.
Can he do it? Should he do it? Is there room for a running back at the top of the draft, even if he's the absolute best the position has to offer? Like so much else about the NFL, the two sides are decidedly not understated.
"Short of your team literally having no needs other than running back, I don't see a point," Eager says.
"Sometimes you can't pass up those guys," counters Tashard Choice. "You can't pass up Barry Sanders if he's sitting there."
Wedged in the middle is Robinson, who will leave the discourse to everyone else and keep that ball for himself.

AND WHAT IF they do pass him up? What if the camera pans to Robinson and his family in Kansas City on Thursday night as one team, then the next team, then the one after that, neglects to call his name?
"The thing about me is, whatever happens, it's just ... going to happen," he says. "I'm going to still be smiling."
If they pass up Bijan Robinson, the question will live on for another day, another draft. Will we ever see another running back taken in the top 10?
Does it matter?
"It's hard to quit running backs," says the same NFL staffer who deemed rushers worth top-10 capital only if they wind up the best in the league. But rationality can't always compete with romanticism, and he admits there's something nostalgic and gauzy about running backs. They feel like quintessential football.
Maybe that's why, on an otherwise unremarkable day in late March, a segment of the Eagles fan base took to the airport. When Robinson touched down and stepped off the plane, he walked out to applause from fans in his path and a message: "We need you out here."
For a moment, the debate and the conventional NFL wisdom and all that noise gave way to a different kind of clamor: appreciation. For this moment, at least, he was a running back who was very much valued.
He has finished his pitch. Roseman is either sold or not. Other GMs are either sold or they are not. But that applause and that message were Robinson's reminder. Some team at some point is going to pick him and that will be the place where he belongs. He's sure of it.
"This is the right timing for everything," he says.
Even if it's the wrong time.
 

 

Why Todd McShay has the Eagles taking Bijan Robinson...
https://www.espn.com/nfl/draft2023/story/_/id/36234668/why-bijan-robinson-break-nfl-draft-running-back-bias

I see it now

A loaded Eagles team drafts Bijan

Bijan goes all Ladanian Tomlinson on the NFL

Bijan wins Super Bowl MVP

Meathead sports commentators and GMs re-evaluate value of RBs

Its like: Bijan is not normal. The Eagles run game is not normal. They’re anomalies. You stumble upon it.

[immamac 41751]

22 minutes ago, Eskimohorn said:

 

Why Todd McShay has the Eagles taking Bijan Robinson...
https://www.espn.com/nfl/draft2023/story/_/id/36234668/why-bijan-robinson-break-nfl-draft-running-back-bias

I see it now

A loaded Eagles team drafts Bijan

Bijan goes all Ladanian Tomlinson on the NFL

Bijan wins Super Bowl MVP

Meathead sports commentators and GMs re-evaluate value of RBs

Its like: Bijan is not normal. The Eagles run game is not normal. They’re anomalies. You stumble upon it.

This thread would read pretty good from a recruit to now. Lol

[Hank Scorpio 17691]

I for one never doubted him. From an AZ scrub nobody ever heard of to winning the Doak Walker award and probably a first rounder. 

[markstanco 12449]

9 hours ago, Hank Scorpio said:

I for one never doubted him. From an AZ scrub nobody ever heard of to winning the Doak Walker award and probably a first rounder. 

[KeysPhoneWallet 807]

People are fooling themselves a bit by downgrading rbs so much. Here are some counterarguments.

(1) people point out lower round draft picks that worked out well. This is survivorship bias, there are many that didn’t work out so well too. Grabbing a lower round guy and paying him little and churning until you find something good is a legit 80/20 strategy, but that won’t yield what you get with a special player.

(2) bijon is as close to a no fail pick as you get. If looking back on drafts how many 7th pick of the draft OL/CB/DL/LB picks busted? That’s a huge loss when one happens, so bijans bust proof-ness should boost value.

(3) for many positions the level of impact an individual can make is dependent on all the other players doing their job. This seems less so for rb. A really talented rb can impact the game by himself alone. Example Barry sanders.

[TrashMaster G 17301]

10 hours ago, Hank Scorpio said:

I for one never doubted him. From an AZ scrub nobody ever heard of to winning the Doak Walker award and probably a first rounder. 

Yeah, he was a pretty anonymous 5-star prospect. 😂

[Reese Bennett 3599]

40 minutes ago, TrashMaster G said:

Yeah, he was a pretty anonymous 5-star prospect. 😂

And his high school stats were pedestrian.

[hornian 5166]

57 minutes ago, TrashMaster G said:

Yeah, he was a pretty anonymous 5-star prospect. 😂

Y'all up in this thread taking Hank seriously. 

[closetojumping 62010]

13 hours ago, markstanco said:

Will be hard to root for him if so. Giants or Washington, yea more so in the division. But not the city of brotherly shove.

I grew up an Oilers fan and despised all of the fucking Cowboy honks outside of Dallas. The Oilers left and I stopped cheering for a team in the NFL. I still enjoyed watching the Cowboys and Jerry Jones wallow in the mud pit of ineptitude, and all of the incessant whining from their fans. 

Reading this thread and watching a bunch of you guys act like complete bitches about the Eagles drafting him has renewed my interest in watching the Cowboys fucking suck for the next decades ahead.  

Phialdelphia is my least favorite city in this country. The people there are miserable human beings that hate each other and the rest of us. And fuck Comcast. But I will enjoy rooting for those motherfuckers, even with their OU/Bama QB, if they draft Robinson. If it happens, I cannot wait to come on this board after big games for him against Dallas and hoot, holler and mock all of you fucking titty babies that can’t be happy for a UT class act because a franchise that hasn’t rewarded you in 3 decades sucks against his team. 

[BurntOrange&White 38890]

Cowboys/Texas fans when Bijan is an Eagle is going to a phenomenal spectacle to watch. 

 

[Post Oak 20114]

13 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

I grew up an Oilers fan and despised all of the fucking Cowboy honks outside of Dallas. The Oilers left and I stopped cheering for a team in the NFL. I still enjoyed watching the Cowboys and Jerry Jones wallow in the mud pit of ineptitude, and all of the incessant whining from their fans. 

Reading this thread and watching a bunch of you guys act like complete bitches about the Eagles drafting him has renewed my interest in watching the Cowboys fucking suck for the next decades ahead.  

Phialdelphia is my least favorite city in this country. The people there are miserable human beings that hate each other and the rest of us. And fuck Comcast. But I will enjoy rooting for those motherfuckers, even with their OU/Bama QB, if they draft Robinson. If it happens, I cannot wait to come on this board after big games for him against Dallas and hoot, holler and mock all of you fucking titty babies that can’t be happy for a UT class act because a franchise that hasn’t rewarded you in 3 decades sucks against his team. 

 

7 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Cowboys/Texas fans when Bijan is an Eagle is going to a phenomenal spectacle to watch. 

 

 

[BurntOrange&White 38890]

2 minutes ago, Post Oak said:

 

 

You watching Bijan singing fly eagles fly

 

Edited April 21, 2023 by BurntOrange&White

[LTtxfan 48727]

I really believe Bijan will be selected earlier than Eric Metcalf was. 

Interesting NFL draft info for Texas RBs:

• Earl drafted Rd 1,      pick #1
• Cedric drafted Rd1,   pick #4
• Ricky drafted Rd 1,    pick #5
• Metcalf drafted Rd 1,  pick #13

[PTINS 3422]

1 minute ago, closetojumping said:

I grew up an Oilers fan and despised all of the fucking Cowboy honks outside of Dallas. The Oilers left and I stopped cheering for a team in the NFL. I still enjoyed watching the Cowboys and Jerry Jones wallow in the mud pit of ineptitude, and all of the incessant whining from their fans. 

Reading this thread and watching a bunch of you guys act like complete bitches about the Eagles drafting him has renewed my interest in watching the Cowboys fucking suck for the next decades ahead.  

Phialdelphia is my least favorite city in this country. The people there are miserable human beings that hate each other and the rest of us. And fuck Comcast. But I will enjoy rooting for those motherfuckers, even with their OU/Bama QB, if they draft Robinson. If it happens, I cannot wait to come on this board after big games for him against Dallas and hoot, holler and mock all of you fucking titty babies that can’t be happy for a UT class act because a franchise that hasn’t rewarded you in 3 decades sucks against his team. 

I grew up in Austin, as a Texas Fan, and a Cowboy Fan, and an Oiler Fan.  Everybody from Dallas & Houston told me had to pick one or the other. Nope, not going to happen. Dallas drafting Tony Dorsett, and the Oiler drafting Earl a year later was  muy bueno.

Bottom Line Bud moving the Oilers and Jerry Jones throwing Tom Landry out of a moving car was the other side of the equation.

Over time, I came to respect the organizations, as much as the teams or the players.  Both Dallas & Houston were easy to dislike.

My son played youth football for the Eagles, that won the "Turf Bowl" 5 years in a row, over the ...Cowboys, the chosen ones.

Still got the hat. Cut the tags off and wore it last year for the first time.  Took it off when the Super Bowl started.

Super Bowl teams don't get to draft the best player in college football. Bijan at KC would be ideal (Texas players thrive in KC).  Bijan with Hurts and the Eagles would be the best thing for Bijan.  Bijan deserves to be drafted by a class organization.

Hard to see him going to the Cowboys being the best thing for him.  Simply selling jerseys is not the goal. Jerry would fuck it up.  You know it.

The Eagles have a good organization. Jalen Hurts is an easy man to be a fan of, works hard on his craft. Class act. Easy to see Bijan in a Super Bowl with the Eagles.   

 

 

[Jkwellborn 6601]

People are fooling themselves a bit by downgrading rbs so much. Here are some counterarguments.

(1) people point out lower round draft picks that worked out well. This is survivorship bias, there are many that didn’t work out so well too. Grabbing a lower round guy and paying him little and churning until you find something good is a legit 80/20 strategy, but that won’t yield what you get with a special player.

(2) bijon is as close to a no fail pick as you get. If looking back on drafts how many 7th pick of the draft OL/CB/DL/LB picks busted? That’s a huge loss when one happens, so bijans bust proof-ness should boost value.

(3) for many positions the level of impact an individual can make is dependent on all the other players doing their job. This seems less so for rb. A really talented rb can impact the game by himself alone. Example Barry sanders.

Barry Sanders doesn’t make the point you want it to, I believe.

[Vic Mackey 46716]

I'd love him on Dallas but i feel we would just be going down the same road with Zeke. Taking a RB very high in draft. Zeke was a very special talent at Ohio State when we drafted him.

Today's game isn't predicated on a RB any longer. They are plug and play. You could say Dallas needs one a little more because Dak isn't a guy like Mahomes who can just take over himself and win.

[KeysPhoneWallet 807]

Barry Sanders doesn’t make the point you want it to, I believe.

Was able to have success because of his individual talent despite the crappy players around him?

[jimmyjazz 45211]

I don't care where Bijan goes, I don't root for any particular NFL team.  I want to see him succeed.

He's a better back than Zeke and a far better human.  He would probably be wasted at Dallas, because Dallas.

[ztejas 42819]

On 4/21/2023 at 11:08 AM, PTINS said:

Easy to see Bijan in a Super Bowl with the Eagles.   

I'm at best a confused and non-comittal Cowboys fan and that's some fucked up shit, dude. 

Bijan being a star in fucking Philly is pretty distasteful as far as my Texas blood is concerned. 

[LTtxfan 48727]

 

[LTtxfan 48727]

🚨NOW LIVE... BIJAN ON Rich Eisen Show🚨

 

Edited April 25, 2023 by LTtxfan

[MoJames 8235]

On 4/13/2023 at 7:59 AM, Liquor and Poker said:

Picking an NFL team based on the intelligence of their fan base is a strange idea

For sure. No real variability between the teams in that metric.

[cochamps 1868]

A couple of things most seem to be overlooking regarding Bijan as a prospect:  he has less mileage on him than most star RBs entering the draft and he is an elite pass receiver.  Whoever gets him will likely be happy, and my main hope is that it will be a good fit - good OL and other skill players.

[Born Burnt 6144]

On 4/21/2023 at 11:08 AM, PTINS said:

I grew up in Austin, as a Texas Fan, and a Cowboy Fan, and an Oiler Fan.  Everybody from Dallas & Houston told me had to pick one or the other. Nope, not going to happen. Dallas drafting Tony Dorsett, and the Oiler drafting Earl a year later was  muy bueno.

Bottom Line Bud moving the Oilers and Jerry Jones throwing Tom Landry out of a moving car was the other side of the equation.

Over time, I came to respect the organizations, as much as the teams or the players.  Both Dallas & Houston were easy to dislike.

My son played youth football for the Eagles, that won the "Turf Bowl" 5 years in a row, over the ...Cowboys, the chosen ones.

Still got the hat. Cut the tags off and wore it last year for the first time.  Took it off when the Super Bowl started.

Super Bowl teams don't get to draft the best player in college football. Bijan at KC would be ideal (Texas players thrive in KC).  Bijan with Hurts and the Eagles would be the best thing for Bijan.  Bijan deserves to be drafted by a class organization.

Hard to see him going to the Cowboys being the best thing for him.  Simply selling jerseys is not the goal. Jerry would fuck it up.  You know it.

The Eagles have a good organization. Jalen Hurts is an easy man to be a fan of, works hard on his craft. Class act. Easy to see Bijan in a Super Bowl with the Eagles.   

 

 

[Guest]

On 4/20/2023 at 7:58 PM, Had Enough said:

Ain’t no better rep for the Horns than having a Super Bowl MVP.

What do you have against that?

Philly?  Lol. Everything. I’ll never root for Philly. 

[Guest]

On 4/21/2023 at 10:21 AM, closetojumping said:

I grew up an Oilers fan and despised all of the fucking Cowboy honks outside of Dallas. The Oilers left and I stopped cheering for a team in the NFL. I still enjoyed watching the Cowboys and Jerry Jones wallow in the mud pit of ineptitude, and all of the incessant whining from their fans. 

Reading this thread and watching a bunch of you guys act like complete bitches about the Eagles drafting him has renewed my interest in watching the Cowboys fucking suck for the next decades ahead.  

Phialdelphia is my least favorite city in this country. The people there are miserable human beings that hate each other and the rest of us. And fuck Comcast. But I will enjoy rooting for those motherfuckers, even with their OU/Bama QB, if they draft Robinson. If it happens, I cannot wait to come on this board after big games for him against Dallas and hoot, holler and mock all of you fucking titty babies that can’t be happy for a UT class act because a franchise that hasn’t rewarded you in 3 decades sucks against his team. 

Massive apparent inferiority complex. News flash, everyone here hates Jerry Jones. Most detest going to the games. None of that should ever excuse rooting for Philly. This is one of the most Texags posts ever authored. 

[Guest]

On 4/22/2023 at 8:33 PM, Vic Mackey said:

I'd love him on Dallas but i feel we would just be going down the same road with Zeke. Taking a RB very high in draft. Zeke was a very special talent at Ohio State when we drafted him.

Today's game isn't predicated on a RB any longer. They are plug and play. You could say Dallas needs one a little more because Dak isn't a guy like Mahomes who can just take over himself and win.

They’re not plug and play. Bijan is like Kamara but better. He’ll go Top 10 and deservedly so. 

[Hate 20061]

I grew up an Oilers fan and despised all of the fucking Cowboy honks outside of Dallas. The Oilers left and I stopped cheering for a team in the NFL. I still enjoyed watching the Cowboys and Jerry Jones wallow in the mud pit of ineptitude, and all of the incessant whining from their fans. 
Reading this thread and watching a bunch of you guys act like complete bitches about the Eagles drafting him has renewed my interest in watching the Cowboys fucking suck for the next decades ahead.  
Phialdelphia is my least favorite city in this country. The people there are miserable human beings that hate each other and the rest of us. And fuck Comcast. But I will enjoy rooting for those motherfuckers, even with their OU/Bama QB, if they draft Robinson. If it happens, I cannot wait to come on this board after big games for him against Dallas and hoot, holler and mock all of you fucking titty babies that can’t be happy for a UT class act because a franchise that hasn’t rewarded you in 3 decades sucks against his team. 

It has nothing to do with being a Cowboys fan and everything to do with hating Philly. I hate the Flyers, Phillies, and Sixers just as much as I hate the Eagles because they are the same fans. I reveled in Philly losing the SB this year. I was beautiful knowing that all of those Philly fans were crying great big crocodile tears! I hope Bijan has a great NFL career, but if he goes to Philly I hope they lose every game he plays while he racks up 200 plus total yards and 2 touchdowns.

[closetojumping 62010]

1 hour ago, Porterhouse said:

Massive apparent inferiority complex. News flash, everyone here hates Jerry Jones. Most detest going to the games. None of that should ever excuse rooting for Philly. This is one of the most Texags posts ever authored. 

"This guy disagrees with me and says things that make me feel uncomfortable about my rooting interests. Hmmm... He must be really insecure ... and also, he's probably an aggie or an aggie-level poster!!?! That will get him!!"

In a single post, you've accurately assessed me while also leveling me to rubble.

1 hour ago, Hate said:

It has nothing to do with being a Cowboys fan and everything to do with hating Philly. I hate the Flyers, Phillies, and Sixers just as much as I hate the Eagles because they are the same fans. I reveled in Philly losing the SB this year. I was beautiful knowing that all of those Philly fans were crying great big crocodile tears! I hope Bijan has a great NFL career, but if he goes to Philly I hope they lose every game he plays while he racks up 200 plus total yards and 2 touchdowns.

You are a Cowboy honk. That drives the rest of it. I already said I couldn't stand the city and its people, but that won't prevent me from cheering for the Eagles with Bijan there. You guys should try to vanquish one of their teams on the national stage at some point in the next few decades and maybe you'll feel better about it.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, closetojumping said:

"This guy disagrees with me and says things that make me feel uncomfortable about my rooting interests. Hmmm... He must be really insecure ... and also, he's probably an aggie or an aggie-level poster!!?! That will get him!!"

In a single post, you've accurately assessed me while also leveling me to rubble.

You are a Cowboy honk. That drives the rest of it. I already said I couldn't stand the city and its people, but that won't prevent me from cheering for the Eagles with Bijan there. You guys should try to vanquish one of their teams on the national stage at some point in the next few decades and maybe you'll feel better about it.

I don’t know what a Cowboy honk is. Probably a cute nickname like others you’ve generated like Sam I Am and Mehlinger. I don’t give a shit about the Boys. Like I truly don’t care one way or another. I’m not, for example, a Houston guy going full Aggy about rooting against Dallas. 

[KeysPhoneWallet 807]

I’m a cowboy fan unfortunately and I’ll still root for bijan even if he goes to the eagles. I’ll hope the eagles lose but I’ll enjoy watching him run. Can’t pretend otherwise.

[TotallyLegit 3050]

Be on the lookout for a Raising Cane's Drive Thru video featuring Bijan. He filmed it last night

Edited April 26, 2023 by TotallyLegit

[Michael Knight 12725]

Lot of buzz with the Falcons and Bijan at 8 or a trade down situation so maybe you losers won't have to worry 

 

 

 

Edited April 26, 2023 by Michael Knight

[Reese Bennett 3599]

Even more smoke around the Twitterverse that Bijan goes 8, 9, or 10.

[BurntOrange&White 38890]

9 minutes ago, Reese Bennett said:

Even more smoke around the Twitterverse that Bijan goes 8, 9, or 10.

Please not Raiders or Falcons

 

Any of the teams in the 10-15 range could be a good fit for him.

Edited April 27, 2023 by BurntOrange&White

[Foosters 17638]

15 hours ago, Michael Knight said:

Lot of buzz with the Falcons and Bijan at 8 or a trade down situation so maybe you losers won't have to worry 

 

 

 

I'm a buccaneers fan and rooting for Atlanta is about the most aggy thing you can do. Just because Bijan is there doesn't excuse anyone here for rooting against the bucs. I will be very angry if I see anyone here rooting for Atlanta.

[Vertigo 20208]

2 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Please not Raiders or Falcons

 

Any of the teams in the 10-15 range could be a good fit for him.

Just for Bijan's future marketing opportunities alone, landing in Atlanta would be a goldmine. 

[BurntOrange&White 38890]

1 minute ago, Vertigo said:

Just for Bijan's future marketing opportunities alone, landing in Atlanta would be a goldmine. 

For his career alone, that would be a deathbed. 

 

 

Honestly 10-15 or 20-32 would all be a good landing spot for him. 1-9 are not great spots and 16-19 aren't much better.

Edited April 27, 2023 by BurntOrange&White

[LTtxfan 48727]

NSIAP...

'Hold on, let me call you back': How Bijan Robinson rebutted Ohio State for Texas thanks to a Stan Drayton phone call

By Joe Cook        04/26/2023

https://www.on3.com/teams/texas-longhorns/news/hold-on-let-me-call-you-back-how-bijan-robinson-rebutted-ohio-state-for-texas-thanks-to-a-stan-drayton-phone-call/

 

Edited April 27, 2023 by LTtxfan

[Zeus 5891]

6 hours ago, BurntOrange&White said:

For his career alone, that would be a deathbed. 

Honestly 10-15 or 20-32 would all be a good landing spot for him. 1-9 are not great spots and 16-19 aren't much better.

Atlanta is still better than Detroit

What if he goes to the Jets? Would be kind of nuts to see him play with Rodgers

[TonyTexas 10433]

Such a great kid. No Lamborghini, huge house, recording studio, or pit bull. 

 

[HiggyBaby 2497]

Congrats Bijan!

[SDG 3319]

Atlanta it is.