In his first season with the Philadelphia Eagles, Saquon Barkley solidifed himself as the league's best rusher, but even Barkley's found himself impressed with another young NFL back—Bijan Robinson of the Atlanta Falcons.
Robinson is coming off a strong second NFL season that saw him take a significant leap. After a solid rookie campaign in 2023, Robinson emerged as one of the league's better backs this past season. He finished top-five in carries, rushing yards and rushing touchdowns in his second season, compiling 1,456 yards and 14 scores on 304 carries in '24.
Though Robinson might have flown relatively under the radar due to the Falcons failure to make the playoffs as well as the incredible seasons from Barkley and the Ravens' Derrick Henry—each of whom rushed for at least 1,900 yards—he has not been overlooked by Barkley.
"There's nobody who's able to cut like Bijan in the NFL," Barkley said on NFL Network as Robinson was named the 62nd best player on the NFL's Top 100 Players of 2025.
"There's not. 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."
Saquon Barkley on Bijan Robinson: "There's nobody who's able to cut like Bijan in the NFL. There's not. You can go argue your mom about that. ... Trust me. I love myself and I think I have great cuts. There's nobody. ... It's finna get scary for a lot of people." 👀
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) July 25, 2025
(via NFL Top… pic.twitter.com/662FNEmV8k
Considering Barkley is coming off the best season of his career and previously was the No. 2 pick in the 2018 draft due to his overwhelming talent, this is high praise for the third-year back. Robinson himself was also a top-10 draft pick and a top prospect coming out of college at Texas, and has already started living up to the billing entering his third season. So much so that he's already drawing lofty remarks from the league's reigning rushing leader.
More NFL on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Saquon Barkley Issues 'Scary' Warning for NFL About One Young Running Back.
