FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — After leading the league in yards from scrimmage in 2025, being named to the Pro Bowl and becoming a two-time AP All-Team selection, Bijan Robinson could add another feather to his cap: Offensive Player of the Year.
The AP revealed its five finalists Thursday, and the Falcons running back was a part of that group, joining New England quarterback Drake Maye, San Francisco running back Christian McCaffrey, Los Angeles receiver Puke Nacua and Seattle receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
The winner will be announced Feb. 5 at the annual NFL Honors event in the lead-up to the Super Bowl in San Francisco.
Below is an argument for why Robinson should win.
BIJAN ROBINSON
Robinson led the league in yards from scrimmage with 2,298. That is the 12th-most in a season in NFL history.
Solely as a rusher, Robinson finished the year with a career-high 1,478 rushing yards, which ranked fourth in the league. As a receiver, he also notched a career-high 820 receiving yards, which was second most among his position group. He became just the second running back all-time to record at least 1,400 rushing yards and 800 receiving yards in a single season.
Let's break down his best performances a little more, and what they mean.
Standout moment: A 229-yard, two-touchdown performance against the Rams in Week 17 was punctuated by a 93-yard touchdown run by Robinson. That single play broke a Falcons' franchise record for the longest rushing play in the organization's history, surpassing the previous mark of a 90-yard touchdown by Warrick Dunn in 2006. That 93-yard touchdown run was also the longest touchdown run in the NFL in 2025. Funny enough, it actually surpassed another Robinson play...
Honorable mention: One of the best singular performances of a player in 2025 was Robinson's 238-yard game against the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football in Week 6. Robinson had an 81-yard touchdown run that helped him get to 170 rushing yards that day, which was the most ever by a Falcons player in a prime-time game. That is, until Robinson knocked that out of the water 11 weeks later in the aforementioned Rams game.
What they're saying: "There's nobody who's able to cut like Bijan in the NFL. There's not," Saquon Barkley said prior to the 2025 season for NFL Top 100. "You can go argue your mom about that. ... Trust me. I love myself and I think I have great cuts. There's nobody, his vision, his agility, and he can catch the ball too. It's finna get scary for a lot of people as he continues to figure it out."
BIG PICTURE
Speaking of the Philadelphia running back, Barkley won this award in 2024, and it was well deserved. He received 35 first-place votes which accounted for 406 points. For context, Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson finished second in voting with 183 points. This came after a record-breaking year for Barkley which featured him becoming just the ninth player in NFL history with over 2,000 rushing yards in a single season. Barkley led all running backs in yards, carries (345) and yards per game (125.3).
This is important information for Robinson's argument because, in 2025, Robinson's numbers were better in total. Barkley had 2,283 yards from scrimmage in 2024. Robinson had 2,298 total yards from scrimmage in 2025 — leading the league, just like Barkley did the year before. Robinson broke the Falcons' single-season franchise record, averaging about 135 yards from scrimmage per game (10 more than Barkley the year prior). He had seven games accumulating more that 150 scrimmage yard. That game total led the league, too. Barkley, in 2024, had 10 such games. McCaffrey in 2025? Just three such games.
Speaking of McCaffrey, even by sheer numbers, Robinson outpaced his fellow running back finalist in total yards from scrimmage. The difference between the two lay in usage: Robinson had nearly 200 more rushing yards than McCaffrey, but McCaffrey led all backs in receptions. So, the way voters value sheer scrimmage yards versus usage and effectiveness in one or the other could tip the scales between Robinson and McCaffrey.
Oh, and one can't forget the importance of those performances to the team at large. Even though Robinson is the only finalist who was not a part of a post-season bound team, one could argue he was even more significant to a Falcons' final score than any other. Six of the seven performances that saw Robinson accumulate more than 150 yards from scrimmage, the Falcons won. When Robinson was rolling it made a key difference in a win and loss for the team, showing just how important Robinson is to an offense — which is the basis of this highly regarded award.
