Falcons GM Terry Fontenot defends selecting running back Bijan Robinson in top 10

The Atlanta Falcons still feel the need to defend the team’s decision to select Bijan Robinson with such a high pick in the first round. It’s not Robinson, per se, but the idea of taking a running back so early in the process.

It is a recent trend that suggests that NFL teams not use a prime selection for a tailback. The thinking is that these tailbacks platoon, anyway. Plus, each already has a ton of carries, meaning their bodies may break down before their next contract from the wear and tear.

So why did the Falcons select Bijan Robinson, the Texas Longhorn and Doak Walker winner, with the eighth pick of the draft? Terry Fontenot, the Falcons general manager, explained why during an interview this week with Rich Eisen.

“We can have these rules or people can have these rules that you don’t take a running back at a certain point or guard at a certain point, you have to take a premium position,” he said. “What we say is tell me the player. Who is the particular running back that’s sitting there? When it’s a guy like Bijan Robinson in the running back box. When you talk about positionless football, he’s an impact offensive player.

“Where ever he is, where ever you get him the ball, he’s a playmaker,” Fontenot said of Bijan Robinson. “He’s a touchdown maker, he’s a home run hitter. And he’s a better person than he is a player so we know he’s going to reach his ceiling. We believe he’s one of the better players in the draft, one of the better people in the draft. So we were really excited to pull that card off the board.”