Atlanta Falcons running back Tyler Allgeier expressed his excitement about teaming up with rookie and first-round pick Bijan Robinson.
The Atlanta Falcons were active this offseason to bring in players to help them contend for what has become a wide-open competition for the NFC South championship. After signing the likes of safety Jessie Bates and defensive lineman Calais Campbell, and acquiring tight end Jonnu Smith and cornerback Jeff Okudah, the Falcons made a controversial pick in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft. That player was Texas running back Bijan Robinson.
While Robinson was one of the best athletes in the entire draft class, taking a running back eighth overall has opened up the yearly debate as to whether the positional value matches the draft pick value. Another reason why the selection was so controversial was that the team had a rising star at the position in Tyler Allgeier, who debuted in the NFL last year.
Allgeier met with the media on Wednesday and was asked about the team drafting Robinson, and what he thinks working alongside him. Allgeier said that he was "excited" and that "everyone will get their chance to shine."
Falcons: Tyler Allgeier 'excited' to team up with Bijan Robinson
"The guys upstairs do things for a reason, and bringing in the right guy," Allgeier said, h/t ProFootballTalk. "It's just competition. That's the name of this game, competition, I'm excited for him to come in, and should be fun."
Last year, the Falcons used their fifth-round pick on Allgeier, the former BYU Cougars running back. After beginning his career as an option off of the bench, he eventually got four weeks of starts for the team. He then started in three of Atlanta's final nine games. Allgeier recorded two 100-yard rushing games — in Week 15 against the New Orleans Saints (139) and Week 18 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
In 16 games, Allgeier ran for 1,035 yards and three touchdowns on 210 carries, while catching 16-of-17 targets for 139 yards and one touchdown.
Robinson was going to get drafted in the first round, but it was a matter of where he would be taken off the board. After all, he was the star of the Longhorns' offense the past two years where he ran for 1,127 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2021 and 1,580 yards and 18 touchdowns in 2022. Not to mention that Robinson can be used as a pass-catching option out of the backfield (60 catches for 805 yards and eight touchdowns in three seasons).
Robinson will likely receive substantial playing time in his rookie season, but it remains to be seen how the carries will be split between the rookie and Allgeier.
