Christian McCaffrey widely is viewed as the gold standard at the running back position, with the 49ers star's versatile usage serving as something Atlanta Falcons star running back Bijan Robinson hopes to emulate in his second NFL season.
During Atlanta's final week of OTA workouts, Robinson told Fox Sports' Greg Auman that while he still remains focused on running the ball, having the ability to be featured in a similar role as McCaffrey remains high on his and the Falcons' offense's priorities heading into the 2024 NFL season.
"I don't know what the plan is," Robinson told Auman. "But it's like run first, like I did in college ... but still having that access to do creative things out of the backfield, more so like how they use Christian [McCaffrey] down there in San Francisco, something like that. So that's kind of what the plan is here."
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Atlanta's coach Raheem Morris echoed a similar sentiment, revealing the Falcons' desire to get Robinson the ball as frequently as possible to maximize the 22-year-old's electric skill set.
"In the simplest form that you can make it, it's get the ball to Bijan as much as you can, in as many ideal situations that you possibly can," Morris told Auman. "For him, he's so talented, you don't want to limit the things he can do. But you also don't want to water it down so much that he's not doing anything that he can do great. When you get the ball in his hands, he makes people miss. He gets extra yards. He breaks tackles. He's fast. He's explosive. He's strong."
McCaffrey was the NFL's leading rusher in 2023, running for 1,459 yards and 14 touchdowns, while adding 67 receptions for 509 yards and seven touchdowns through the air en route to a First-Team All-Pro selection.
Robinson flashed during his rookie season after being selected No. 8 overall in the 2023 NFL Draft, logging 976 rushing yards to go along with 487 receiving yards on 58 receptions.
San Francisco 49ers
As Robinson embarks on his sophomore campaign, he will do his best to follow McCaffrey's footsteps and establish himself as one of the NFL's preeminent offensive weapons.
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