Buffalo Bills Draft Profile: Texas RB Bijan Robinson
By Dakota Wayne
The Buffalo Bills are in a position moving forward, where they need to walk away from this offseason and draft with a lot of holes filled up depending on how free agency goes.
This most recent season didn’t go as well as many thought it would, considering the Bills were a Super Bowl favorite for most of the season. But, with Josh Allen’s elbow injuries and a few key injuries across the roster, the Bills need to make it right this off season.
Brandon Beane is in a position where he can get this train back on the rails, however, with a poor draft and/or off season for the Buffalo Bills, it could get dicey in the AFC East.
And with drafting towards the end of the first-round, the Bills could find themselves in a spot to draft one of the best athletes in the draft in Bijan Robinson out of Texas.
A running back might not be the biggest need for the Buffalo Bills, as they certainly have more than one hole to fill this off season, but if Devin Singletary tests free agency, the Bills would be relying on James Cook to man the running back room essentially on his own.
Could the Buffalo Bills add one of the best athletes this draft in Bijan Robinson?
In Daniel Jeremiah’s Mock Draft 1.0, the Bills actually did just this, drafting Bijan Robinson with the 27th overall pick.
James Cook is a good enough player to do have the backfield to himself if the Bills build their offensive line, but at the same time, it’d be a hard business decision to be drafting at No. 27 and pass on what could be the best running back prospect since Saquon Barkley— who was drafted No. 2 overall in the 2018 NFL Draft.
Standing 6-foot-flat and weighing 215-pounds makes him just about as prototypical as possible, which only adds to the Bijan Robinson hype.
| Rushing | Receiving | Scrimmage | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | School | Conf | Class | Pos | G | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | Plays | Yds | Avg | TD |
| *2020 | Texas | Big 12 | FR | RB | 9 | 86 | 703 | 8.2 | 4 | 15 | 196 | 13.1 | 2 | 101 | 899 | 8.9 | 6 |
| 2021 | Texas | Big 12 | SO | RB | 10 | 195 | 1127 | 5.8 | 11 | 26 | 295 | 11.3 | 4 | 221 | 1422 | 6.4 | 15 |
| *2022 | Texas | Big 12 | JR | RB | 12 | 258 | 1580 | 6.1 | 18 | 19 | 314 | 16.5 | 2 | 277 | 1894 | 6.8 | 20 |
| Career | Texas | 539 | 3410 | 6.3 | 33 | 60 | 805 | 13.4 | 8 | 599 | 4215 | 7.0 | 41 |
Robinson had over 500 carries for the Longhorns in his three-year career, and he was able to accomplish quite a bit in those three years.
Over his career, Bijan Robinson accumulated over 3,400 yards and 33 rushing TDs. On top of that, he adds 805 receiving yards and eight receiving TDs.
Bijan Robinson would be an upgrade in just about every running back room in the NFL, and that’s no different for the Buffalo Bills.
BIJAN IS THAT DUDE đŸ¤˜ pic.twitter.com/6eHppxfFlO
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) October 9, 2021
Robinson runs like he’s on a mission each and every time he gets the ball, and that mission is to make defenders look silly and finish in the end zone.
While the Buffalo Bills ranked ninth in rushing attempts across the league, 124 of their 430 rushing attempts came from their quarterback, Josh Allen.
That means the vast majority of the remaining 306 rushing attempts were divvied up between their two main running backs: Devin Singletary and James Cook. 306 rushing attempts would rank dead last in the NFL behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who only had 386 rushing attempts.
Next. Buffalo Bills: Three 2023 NFL Draft prospects to build the trenches. dark
The Bills have a clear need to run the football more effectively, as that’s one of the reasons their playoff game against the Bengals went the way it did.
However, drafting Bijan Robinson with one of the last picks in the first round should be a no-brainer for Brandon Beane and the Buffalo Bills on bringing this team back to Super Bowl favorites.