Falcons' Bijan Robinson Talks Kirk Cousins, Fantasy Football, More in B/R Interview

There's being obsessed with fantasy football.

And then there's being bold enough to approach Bijan Robinson to tell him to dial it back on the field for a week for fantasy reasons.

"You hear it all the time," the Atlanta Falcons running back told Bleacher Report. "You don't realize how many people actually play fantasy football. For me, that's what I realized. How many people come up to me and are like, 'I've got you on my fantasy team,' or, 'I'm going up against you.' I actually had a guy come up to me and was like, 'bro, please don't perform well this week because I'm going against you in fantasy.'"

While Robinson said he found that interaction to be amusing and laughed it off, there is seemingly always some fantasy-related noise surrounding the second-year playmaker given his overall talent and that he sometimes splits carries with running back Tyler Allgeier.

"It's definitely something I just try to tune out because it can take over your mind if you start thinking about it like that," he said. "But I know it's such a big thing for football, and I always tell people to go get your money and hopefully we perform well for you."

He has certainly performed well.

Atlanta is rolling at 5-3 with wins in four of its last five games, and Robinson has been a major part of the success. He already has 546 rushing yards, 244 receiving yards and five total touchdowns and is on pace to go over 1,000 yards on the ground after he fell just short with 976 in his rookie campaign.

Robinson has been particularly dialed in of late with 105 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns against the Carolina Panthers, 143 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown against the Seattle Seahawks, and 106 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the last three games alone.

He looks more comfortable in the Falcons' new system every week, which is surely what the team had in mind when it hired head coach Raheem Morris and offensive coordinator Zac Robinson this past offseason.

It felt like a needed change after former Falcons head coach Arthur Smith went 7-10 in three straight seasons and was largely criticized for failing to maximize an offense with so many weapons and first-round picks.

Morris was the defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams the past three seasons and won a Super Bowl during that time, while Robinson was in a variety of roles with the NFC West team before being promoted to passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

It hasn't taken long for them to establish a pattern of success in Atlanta.

"With those pieces coming in, it's been super positive not just for me but for the whole team," Robinson said. "Just with Raheem bringing in that positivity and being such a players' coach, he's definitely grasped the team. It's just fun to be there. And obviously when you win, it's a lot better. The vibe around the building has been amazing.

"Even with Zac coming in and being an innovator with the offense and me feeling comfortable with it. Everybody knowing their roles and knowing their places has definitely been a blessing. I'm excited to see what we've got going for this next stretch coming up, but it's definitely been fun to be a part of it."

The coaching staff wasn't the only area where the Falcons made a major change heading into the 2024 campaign, as they also signed quarterback Kirk Cousins after inconsistent play from the position the past two seasons with Desmond Ridder, Marcus Mariota and Taylor Heinicke.

Atlanta now has a four-time Pro Bowler with seven seasons of more than 4,000 passing yards to play the role of point guard as he distributes the ball to the likes of Robinson, Allgeier, Drake London, Darnell Mooney, Kyle Pitts and others.

It is a move that is more than paying off, as he has completed 68.3 percent of his passes for 2,106 yards, 14 touchdowns and seven interceptions through eight games. He also has a combined eight touchdown passes in two head-to-head victories over the Buccaneers, who were a presumed top contender in the division coming into the season.

"He's been great," Robinson said of Cousins. "He's experienced as a veteran who has been at the game for a long time and played a lot of football. That's what he brings to the team is that leadership. He's also teaching me how to be a leader on the field and make my voice heard by some of the guys in a positive way.

"Obviously, he's very talented. But it's more so his mindset that I gravitate toward. He's been a huge plus not just for the offense but for the whole team."

Another huge plus for Robinson this season has been his partnership with ORB Sport Smart Mouthguard. The advanced smart mouthguard monitors physiology and biomechanics to create an overall picture regarding performance, strengths and areas for improvement all while providing better protection against dental injuries.

"It's been amazing," Robinson said of the partnership. "ORB is the only mouthguard that tracks data, it tracks your heart rate, it tracks your impact. I think that technology is obviously becoming a really big thing in the world, especially in sports. With ORB, tracking that technology for the future is something that's been great for me. Just me using the data while I'm in practice and in games and seeing what I use and my movement skills and the impact that I'm taking every single game being a running back.

"It's been super beneficial. The thing that helps me the most is it definitely improves my performance on the field and how comfortable I feel. Not just with it being placed in my mouth, but how it tracks what I'm doing on the field and the different movement skills. If I'm getting hit a little bit more on my right side, it tracks that. If I'm getting hit a little bit more on my left side, it tracks that. It takes my game to the next level."

Seemingly every member of the Falcons have taken their game to the next level like that in divisional contests this season.

They are 4-0 in NFC South contests, while nobody else in the division is better than 1-2. They also already swept the season series against the 4-4 Buccaneers thanks to a Week 5 overtime win at home and Sunday's road win, which gives them a critical tiebreaker moving forward.

"Every single game is important for us no matter AFC or NFC, but we do know the NFC is what we have to hone in on," Robinson said. "We have an important one coming up this Sunday against the [Dallas] Cowboys. We understand that every game is going to be important no matter the record or who it is, but in the NFC South that was a big one for us last week. Just to go 4-0 and continue winning in our division."

If the Falcons keep winning in their division, Robinson will have the opportunity to make plays on the postseason stage for the first time in his career.