Bijan Robinson just delivered Texas football a recruiting pitch with a $75 million headline attached.
The former Longhorns star agreed to a three-year extension with the Atlanta Falcons that can reach $75 million, with a reported position-record $51 million guaranteed. At roughly $25 million per year, it doesn’t just push the running back market higher. It blows the doors off it.
For Texas, that number matters. Robinson came to Austin as one of the country’s most hyped recruits, played like a star, and has now turned himself into one of the NFL’s most valuable offensive pieces. When Steve Sarkisian and his staff sit across from elite prospects, they now have a clean, powerful example to point to: Texas can set a player up for Sundays and for life-changing money.
Robinson’s first 51 NFL games already told a strong story. He has run for 3,910 yards and 25 touchdowns, averaged 4.9 yards per carry, and added 198 catches for 1,738 yards and nine more scores. That gave him 5,648 total yards from scrimmage before he even signed his second professional contract.
Then he went out and put together a huge 2025 season.
Robinson led the league with 2,298 scrimmage yards, picked up his first All-Pro nod, and finished fourth in Offensive Player of the Year voting. Pro Football Focus credited him with 87 missed tackles forced as a runner and 1,172 rushing yards after contact.
That’s not a back being carried by the line. That’s a back carrying an offense.
Atlanta is paying him like it knows it.
The Falcons have now made major financial commitments to Robinson, Drake London and Kyle Pitts as they build around three explosive skill players. Robinson may be the most important of the trio, especially with Michael Penix Jr. returning from a knee injury and Tua Tagovailoa competing for the starting quarterback job.
Whoever ends up under center, the Falcons know where the offense starts.
Robinson’s extension could also set up a target for Detroit Lions star Jahmyr Gibbs, who went four picks after him in the 2023 NFL Draft. But Robinson got the money first, reset the market, and gave Texas another shiny recruiting weapon without the Longhorns spending a dime.
In Other News...
Falcons Suddenly Have A Jessie Bates Situation Worth Watching
Jessie Bates has become a notable absence at Falcons practice this week, sitting out for two straight days and leaving the teams secondary with a bit more uncertainty than it had a few days ago. Bates has been one of Atlantas most important defensive players since arriving, so even a routine practice absence tends to draw attention, especially when the club has offered no official explanation.
There has been no word yet on whether the issue is health-related or tied to the bigger picture of his contract year, and that silence is what makes this worth monitoring. For now, the Falcons are left to manage the usual camp questions without much clarity, while Bates status remains one of the more interesting storylines hanging over the defense. [Read more 🡒]
Falcons Linebacker Battle Just Got More Interesting Around Divine Deablo
With Kaden Elliss gone, the Falcons linebacker group is one of the more unsettled spots on the roster, and Divine Deablo is right in the middle of it. He is expected to handle a bigger responsibility as the defenses green dot, while the coaching staff sorts through how to piece together the rest of the position around veterans Christian Harris and Troy Andersen.
Summer activities have also given Atlanta a better look at two rookies who have quickly stood out in the room. Deablo has praised their progress, and the staffs plan is to bring them along gradually rather than rush the process, which leaves the competition around the linebacker rotation plenty interesting as camp approaches. [Read more 🡒]
Falcons Pass Rush Suddenly Hangs On One Looming NFL Decision
Atlantas pass rush, which was supposed to get a boost from its young edge talent, has been jolted by a pair of setbacks. First-round pick Jalon Walker is out for the season after tearing his ACL, leaving the Falcons to regroup around the rest of their front seven and adjust a plan that had counted on immediate help off the edge.
James Pearce now sits at the center of the next turn for that unit, with the Falcons waiting on a league decision that could shape how thin their rush really is when the games start mattering. President Greg Beadles said Pearce has been performing well, but the team is still looking to the NFL for clarity, and the answer could arrive soon enough to determine just how much of that depth the Falcons can count on. [Read more 🡒]