Todd McShay says top 2023 RB is more talented than Saquon Barkley
While the consensus among most draft experts is that Bijan Robinson is one of the best players available in the 2023 NFL Draft, the University of Texas running back will likely fall outside of the top 10 simply because of the nature of his position.
However, ESPN’s Todd McShay recently stated on an episode of “First Draft” that he believes Robinson has a higher upside than the last running back to be taken in the top five — New York’s Saquon Barkley.
“I haven’t talked to a team that doesn’t have Bijan Robinson — just purely ranked on talent — in their top seven,” McShay noted. “He’s one of the seven best players in this draft. I thought Saquon Barkley was sensational coming out of Penn State (in 2018), I’ll make this argument…I think Bijan Robinson is more talented coming out of Texas, more complete, has more explosiveness and creates more missed tackles than Saquon Barkley did. We saw last season what (Barkley) can be in the NFL, how special he is. I think Bijan is that, and maybe a little bit more.”
Over the last 10 years, there have been just five running backs taken in the top 10 — Todd Gurley (2015), Ezekiel Elliott (2016), Leonard Fournette and Christian McCaffrey (2017) and Barkley (2018).
Since Barkley was drafted No. 2 overall in 2018, no running back has been taken higher than pick No. 24. In fact, the first running back taken in the 2022 draft didn’t come off the board until the second round.
Robinson ranked sixth in the NCAA in rushing in 2022 with 1,580 yards and his 18 touchdowns were tied for fifth-most. He also added 19 receptions, 314 yards and two more scores through the air.
The 6-foot, 220-pound tailback won the 2022 Doak Walker Award, given annually to the top running back in college football, and his 3,430 rushing yards and 41 total touchdowns both rank fourth in Longhorn history.
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