To Infinity and Bijan. If you have had Bijan Robinson in fantasy football the last two years, then you are very familiar with that phrase. Maybe it’s even been your fantasy football team name. Nonetheless, Bijan has taken the fantasy football world by storm in all formats. What do I mean by this?
Robinson gets a heavy workload of rush attempts, is an elite pass catcher, and has scored 25 total touchdowns in the last two years despite Tyler Allgeier getting 19-plus attempts a season inside the 10. He’s also shown those high-end speeds that have been lacking at the NFL level, which was capped by a 93-yard touchdown run against the Rams in Week 17, or as we refer to it, Championship Week.
He’s one of the best running backs in football. That fact has shown itself in Sleeper Mock Drafts this offseason, where Bijan Robinson is the 1.01 in ADP. Is he worth it? Would you take him over Jahmyr Gibbs, CMC, or the WR 3-pack of JSN, Puka Nacua, and Ja’Marr Chase? I would. Let’s get into the arguments.
The Case For Bijan Robinson at 1.01 in 2026 Fantasy Football
The Pros
Bijan has had a heavy workload over the last two years, carrying the ball 287 and 301 times, respectively. This volume comes despite being on a losing team, and despite Tyler Allgeier siphoning off 140 carries per year, which is quite abnormal. Bijan doesn’t sacrifice much efficiency either, despite being on a bad team. As mentioned, he’s carried the ball nearly 600 times for 5.0 yards per carry. King Henry is at 5.6 yards per carry but on a team like the Ravens, which is some food for thought. And this isn’t even Bijan’s best asset as a running back.
Bijan’s best asset is his work in the receiving game, where he is an elite pass catcher. He has been targeted over 260 times in his three-year career, averaging 87 targets per season. That is a ton of work for a player who still gets the ball nearly 300 times a year in the run game. He’s not quite on CMC’s level (who had 129 targets last year) but was over 100 targets at over 10 yards per reception. That’s slot wide receiver level, especially considering JSN has had two seasons with 10-11 yards per reception. A good way to sum up Bijan’s work in the passing game is to come to terms with you taking a top-36 WR and a top-5 RB as one single player. Again, that is CMC-esque, while being six years younger, without a history of injuries, and with probably 2500 or so fewer touches.
Touchdown upside is next, and it may ultimately determine whether Bijan cashes in on the 1.01 price tag. Bijan had only seven rushing touchdowns last year, but he had 14 the year before, proving the upside is there. The chances of hitting double digits again have certainly increased with Allgeier leaving. Again, that means about 20 10-zone carries are up for grabs. It’s fair to assume Bijan Robinson absorbs most of those, and not the other B Robinson that Atlanta brought in for pennies on the dollar. Allgeier had 11 rushing touchdowns the last two years, so the ceiling could be 15-20 total touchdowns for Bijan this year.
The Cons
Bijan doesn’t always come up smelling like roses. It would be irresponsible of me to talk only about the pros when laying out my argument for why Bijan is my 1.01 this year. We also have to talk about his cons and why he should be able to overcome them. The first is that the Falcons are probably going to stink again. The Bucs are still good; the Panthers won that division last year; and the Saints are the dark horse to be the next good team in the division. That may leave the Falcons in the NFC South cellar.
Typically, a bad team doesn’t bode well for an RB’s workload, but as we’ve mentioned before, the Falcons have been there for Bijan’s entire career. It has not stopped them from feeding Robinson the rock. With Allgeier no longer there and given the scheme, they will probably have around 400-450 rushing attempts. Penix and Tua will not combine for 50 rushes, and Brian Robinson Jr. may not have 100 (behind CMC, he had 92), which should leave a comfortable 275-325 carries for Bijan. That’s an easy 1400-1550 rushing yards.
Speaking of the scheme, Stefanski has a reputation of underutilizing his running backs in the passing game. In fact, no running back has had more than 63 under Stefanski in Cleveland (Jerome Ford). However, if you look more closely, you notice that the RB position usually has 100-plus total targets. Bijan will not be threatened by the other B. Robinson, so if the Falcons target the position only 110 times, Bijan may have at least 90 of those targets.
Bijan is also an elite pass catcher (emphasis on ELITE). Other than Kareem Hunt, the Browns’ running backs were nowhere close in skill level as pass catchers. They have also been plagued by bad quarterback play and Deshaun Watson. In Atlanta, Bijan was on pace for 110 targets with Penix, who loved Bijan. Tua Tagovailoa also loves checking the ball down to his running backs (De’Von Achane, anyone?), so don’t let Kevin Stefanski and the scheme scare you away; he will utilize his best pass catchers in Bijan, London, and Pitts.
Be sure to check our fantasy football preview of Bijan Robinson and the 2026 Falcons!
The Competition
Now, of course, the decision at 1.01 isn’t just about whether to take Bijan Robinson. At running back, there are also Jahmyr Gibbs and CMC. And then there is the WR trio of Puka, JSN, and Ja’Marr Chase. I get the appeal of drafting WRs first; trust me, I do. However, which WR would you draft at 1.01? Let’s look over the competition, starting with Gibbs.
Jahmyr Gibbs
Gibbs has scored 38 touchdowns over the last two years, making him a big-play machine who has been the RB1 and RB3 in that span. Not to mention, David Montgomery is no longer in Detroit, so he seems like an equally good bet, right? Or even better? Well, there are issues. First, Jahmyr Gibbs has never had more than 250 carries in a season despite Detroit being elite and used to controlling the clock. That’s just not who he is.
Bijan will outpace him by 3-4 carries a game, and at best, Gibbs will only equal Bijan’s target pace. For him to outscore Bijan, he will need another 15-plus touchdowns, and we know touchdowns aren’t a sticky stat. Detroit could be trash next year, and the loss of Montgomery could honestly translate to more passing touchdowns…or dare I say: field goals (Dan Campbell cringes just thinking about that)? There are questions here: we don’t know how the Lions will look without David Montgomery on the team, or whether they’ll be bad.
Christian McCaffrey
CMC looked dusted running the ball last year at a 3.9 ypc. Despite that, he was still the overall 1.01 in fantasy. This was a 1.01 season built with a haystack, and age may blow that over. Until that happens, though, dude is a machine in the passing game. Having 129 targets for a running back is quite insane, and that wasn’t even his career high. But if you look more closely at the haystack, San Francisco had nobody else to throw to last year: Brandon Aiyuk may have been kidnapped 18 months ago; nobody has heard from him in San Fran in years; Pearsall was hurt every other game; and Kittle only played 11 games.
This year they addressed those issues: San Francisco went out and signed Mike Evans, Pearsall is still on the team, Kittle is trending toward being ready at the start of the season, and they also signed Christian Kirk. There will be more pass catchers, and if a 30-year-old McCaffrey beats Father Time another season, it may very well be because 400 touches become 300-350, making it a tough bet to make at 1.01. And before you come at me: I took CMC in the first round last year in my league of record. But he was 29 then, and didn’t look washed yet in the running game. Plus, I got him at the end of the first round. I couldn’t do it at 1.01, and I couldn’t recommend anyone else do it either.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba
JSN had a career year in which everything went perfectly. His yards per reception jumped from 11.3 to 15.1 while still maintaining a 73% catch percentage. He also led the league in receiving yards and had a monster 33.8% target share. Despite all of that, JSN was not the WR1, and Bijan also outscored JSN in a ppr league. It’s hard to imagine there won’t be some regression for the Super Bowl Champion Seahawks, especially for JSN if they can’t run the ball like they did last year. Now, this doesn’t mean I think JSN will be bad (Josh Hudson and I both understand this mistake), but if JSN were like the WR6, it wouldn’t surprise me. It would surprise me if Bijan, fully healthy, was lower than like RB3.
Puka Nacua
Puka was the WR1 and second to Christian McCaffrey in total points from the skill positions. Since I’m also a massive Rams fan, I would say there’s room to grow for Puka too (wait for my Rams article later in the year). But there are risks. We have seen some off-the-field issues; nothing crazy yet, but a lot of character issues/questions that could escalate since he’s kind of been a knucklehead off the field. His value is also tied to Stafford and Stafford’s health.
Further, Puka had 11 total touchdowns last year. In the previous two years combined, he had ten. Was it an anomaly? If the Rams passing attack regresses to the mean, if their touchdowns shift back to the running game (i.e., Kyren only had 10 rushing touchdowns last year), or if they rely on that defense to keep leads, then Puka may be looking at a top-5 year. You don’t want to draft a WR at the 1.01 and see him finish as the WR4. That would also likely mean there were 3-4 running backs who finish higher too in that hypothetical.
Ja’Marr Chase
When healthy, he is the best wide receiver in football. When Joe Burrow is healthy, Chase is arguably the best weapon in football. We’ve seen the Bengals have to throw, throw, throw with their atrocious defenses over the last few years; however, they did make a concerted effort to beef up their defensive line (while losing Hendrickson). It’s likely everyone in Cincinnati now realizes that it’s unreliable to hope the team will have to stack wins in shootouts week in and week out. They will never make it back to the Super Bowl unless they focus more on the running game, controlling possession, and their defense not being Swiss cheese.
All that said, Chase could be elite again and still be the WR1, but he may not be game-breaking. Kind of like he was last year when he finished a distant WR4 despite 125 receptions, 1412 yards, and 8 touchdowns. However, after Burrow missed half of the year, Chase proved might honestly be the safest WR to take out of the three. But for the Bengals’ sake, his game-breaking, runaway 1.01 upside may be a thing of the past, and chances are Bijan outscores him too.
Conclusion
There is not a wrong pick at 1.01, and none of us have a crystal ball to know who the 1.01 will ultimately be. It could be one of the six players mentioned or someone coming out of left field. But I hope this argument makes it clear as to why I would be rolling with Bijan Robinson at 1.01 in PPR drafts this offseason. He has the best upside, floor, and consistency other than maybe Puka Nacua. But Bijan isn’t an issue off the field and does not have his value tied to a soon-to-be-39-year-old Matthew Stafford, who has a scary back. So, to leave you with this, I say: To Infinity and Bijan!
Looking for your favorite team? This link will take you to the rest of our 2026 Look Inside team previews.
A Look Inside the Atlanta Falcons
Editor’s Note: While this article focused on Bijan Robinson in fantasy football, we don’t want to leave you hanging on the rest of the team. Here is a quick look at the other fantasy-relevant Falcons from Ryan Weisse.
Tua Tagovailoa / Michael Penix
The Falcons got Tagovailoa pretty cheap, but it seems he’s in line to start. Penix is recovering from an ACL tear and wasn’t playing that great last year to begin with. While Tua is far from great, he is an upgrade to what Stefanski had last season. But he is still Tua. All in all, you’re not looking at either of these guys in single-QB leagues, and they are both probably just QB3 options in SuperFlex.
Brian Robinson
While I agree with Chris in this article that this is Bijan’s show, Robinson is still interesting. On a team likely to run 450-500 times, there should be plenty of work left over. It helps that there is no third back to speak of. More importantly, if something were to happen to Bijan, the other B Robinson is a more than serviceable back. He is a high-value handcuff at the very least.
Drake London
This Stefanski offense gave us great seasons from Amari Cooper and Jerry Jeudy in Cleveland. London is better than both. He’s also basically the only viable WR in this offense. For some wideouts, that might mean too much defensive attention, but you still have to account for the running game and Kyle Pitts. London is still a top-10 WR, but questionable QB play caps his ceiling.
Jahan Dotson
While Dotson has disappointed thus far, he is pretty safely the WR2 in this offense. For your basic redraft league, that won’t result in much fnatasy value. However, at the end of deep Best Ball league, Dotson could surprise.
Kyle Pitts
Pitts finished as the WR2 last season, but an uneven proportion of his fantasy points came in one huge game. While some see this as a bad thing, I prefer to draft TEs with huge upside. Selecting them gets easier when they are falling to TE8 in most fantasy drafts. Stefanski offense loves the TE spot, a la David Njoku and Harold Fannin, and Pitts is better than both. He could be a steal in fantasy drafts.
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You can also see where Bijan Robinson and the rest of the Falcons fall in our 2026 Fantasy Rankings here!
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