More confident Bijan Robinson highlighting Atlanta youth literacy for NFL ‘My Cleats’ weekend
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — In 2023, Atlanta ran the ball into a defensive box with eight or more defenders on 23.8 percent of its carries. In 2024, the Falcons are doing it 15.5 percent of the time.
Bijan Robinson can feel the difference.
“When you have wide receivers outside who can catch the football and you have Kirk (Cousins) who can dish it out to everybody … teams don’t play us with eight-man boxes too much,” said Robinson, the second-year running back. “They try to bring a safety down, but they are more spreading out, and that obviously helps your run game tremendously.”
That and more carries have helped Robinson this season. He has 167 carries for 783 rushing yards, which is 26 more carries and 80 more yards than he had a year ago at this time. On Sunday, he’ll try to add to that total against the Los Angeles Chargers while having a slightly different on-field look.
Week 13 is the first of the NFL’s two My Cause My Cleats weekends, during which players can wear custom footwear designed to highlight a charity. For Robinson, it will be his own charity, the Bijan Reads initiative, which is part of his Bijan Robinson Foundation.
“There’s a super low rate of literacy in Atlanta with kids, and it’s something I really want to change,” Robinson said. “I think these kids should be having fun reading and learning with it.”
Only 41 percent of metro Atlanta third-graders are proficient in reading, according to the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library Foundation. Robinson’s goal through Bijan Reads is to start a book club, provide books for bedtime stories and send children bingo cards to track their reading progress.
Bijan Robinson is promoting youth literacy this weekend as part of the NFL’s “My Cause My Cleats” initiative. (Jay Bendlin / Atlanta Falcons)
“We want to make it fun. That’s why we’re doing it the way we’re doing it,” Robinson said. “I want to give resources to the parents so the kids can get better and have fun with it and have a higher literacy rate.”
Robinson’s footwear Sunday was designed by 9-year-old Hudson Collier, whose idea won a contest sponsored by Bijan Reads and was completed by artist Marvin Baroota.
“He did a great job,” Robinson said.
The same could be said for Robinson up until a disappointing 35-yard effort against Denver two weeks ago. Headed into that game, Robinson had five straight games with more than 100 scrimmage yards and more rushing yards than expected, according to Next Gen Stats tracking.
Robinson credits improvements in his patience and understanding of the team’s blocking schemes along with the Falcons’ new offensive system for his success this season.
“I think it’s just me being more confident in the running game and really trusting the O-line,” he said. “It’s just me trusting those guys up there first. That’s been a really big thing for me. I got reps last year, but now getting as many as I have gotten, it definitely helps me and my confidence in what I need to do and how I am seeing things.”