FLOWERY BRANCH — Falcons running back Bijan Robinson clearly is more relaxed during his second training camp.
After declaring for the NFL draft in 2023, the players hit the interview and workout circuit before the draft. After Robinson was selected eighth overall, there was the rookie minicamp, the mandatory minicamp and then a 17-game season to plow straight through.
This offseason was much less hectic for Robinson, who had to battle through an ankle injury ahead of training camp, which started Thursday.
“It was awesome,” Robinson said after the first half-speed practice. “It was fun. This is my first offseason that I had where it was a full offseason. So, it was just good to go back out there with the teammates and just enjoy the time. … I just can’t wait to continue to keep going.”
Robinson, who took several handoffs from quarterback Kirk Cousins and zipped through openings Friday, is working to learn the offense that’s being installed by offensive coordinator Zac Robinson. He’s also noticed a different approach by coach Raheem Morris, who was hired in January to replace Arthur Smith.
“Just with Raheem coming in, he instilled that positivity and even when everybody showed up (on Wednesday), we were all smiling,” Robinson said. “All happy to see each other. All happy to be here. It was just one of those days where we knew immediately with the energy that was in this building, that the love is there with every player.”
The Falcons got right to work.
“In the meetings, we were all locked in, tuned in,” Robinson said. “We can still have fun and get good work in.”
Robinson has noted that Morris has the Falcons easing into camp with a focus on not making mental mistakes through two practices.
“We are just hitting everything on the nail, there were some mistakes here and there, but we clean those up real quick,” Robinson said. “I think we were looking good in practice.”
Robinson, who amassed 1,463 yards from scrimmage last season, was named to the 2023 NFL All-Rookie team by the Pro Football Writers of America.
Robinson rushed 214 times for 976 yards and four touchdowns. He also caught 58 passes for 487 yards and four touchdowns. He made the team with Detroit running back Jahmyr Gibbs, who was taken 12th overall, after a stellar career at Georgia Tech and Alabama for the Dalton native.
Robinson is hoping to build off the strong rookie campaign.
“We want to win,” Robinson said. “It’s been a little bit since we made it to the playoffs (not since the 2017 season). We want to start with one game at a time. Obviously, like we want to get to the end goal, but we’ve got to start with one step at a time, one practice at a time.”
Robinson acknowledged that not making the playoffs would be a disappointment.
“For how hard we work and for how close we got together with all the resources that we had, yeah, that would definitely be disappointing,” Robinson said. “But for us, we know that it takes a lot of work.”
Robinson plans to step into more of a leadership role.
“Last year, I was more lead-by-example,” Robinson said. “This year, the same thing, but I think for the guys, I’m just trying to gain respect from the guys every day and just let them hear my voice.”
Also, Robinson said he’s concentrating on ball security. He had four fumbles last season.
“I’ve been harping on that all offseason,” Robinson said. “Obviously, getting better at everything that I do on the field, but making sure that was a priority so that I don’t put the ball on the ground.
The Falcons plan to continue to run the outside-zone rushing system with Robinson. They will add some additional run schemes in order to help them keep defenses off-balance.
“We’re going to run some wide-zone,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said. “We’re going to run some mid-zone. We’re going to run some gap-scheme. We’ll have a plethora of all of it in there, but we’re going to have a bread-and-butter and our identity will come out.”
Dwayne Ledford, who was named the run-game coordinator/offensive line coach, will install that part of the offense, which will then be blended with Robinson’s passing attack.
Ledford is looking forward to unleashing Robinson.
“I can’t say enough good things about him, it’s so much,” Ledford said. When somebody gets drafted, there is so much. I think Bijan has done an excellent job of just staying like, it’s right here, it’s just football.”
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