STRENGTHS
Bijan is a complete running back with all the skills and high football IQ to become a franchise back for the team that selects him. He is one of the best pass-blocking running backs I have ever seen coming out in a draft. Bijan is a pure running back with excellent receiving skills to make an athletic catch or a contested catch like a receiver down the field. He is a strong running back who can gain yards by breaking tackles at the line of scrimmage. He shows good vision in the open field and because of his strength is difficult for defensive backs to bring down without help. Because he is so smart reading the blitz his blocking skills to protect his quarterback will bring the deep ball back to a team’s offense. Bijan is everything you look for in a franchise running back, good speed, quick feet, excellent lateral explosion, vision to make players miss, pass-blocking skills, high football IQ, and the ability to catch the ball in any situation. He is as good as Jonathan Tylor and Saquon Barkley when they both came out.
CONCERNS
What do I say when you see the obvious…you don’t nit-pick it to death you just draft the obvious. I will say this, if Bijan does get injured his talent will be hard to replace because he can do everything, run, block, catch the ball and be a workhorse back if that’s what you need. That’s not a reason to not select him early in this draft, it is every reason TO draft him early.
BOTTOM LINE: 1.47
There is a need for Running Backs to be a lot different in this new passing-happy offense of the NFL. Some teams realize it and are starting to use RBs all over their offense instead of just in the backfield. I tried explaining this when Derrick Henry came out. He has talent way beyond just using him as a smash-mouth running back. But, no one listens to me then, low and behold, WR Deebo Samuel, and WR Cordarrelle Patterson both with RB-like bodies, come along and teams start to figure it out and the worm starts to turn. Now teams are looking for bulkier receivers and slimmed-down running backs who have the leg strength to be used in the backfield as well as the high football IQ to run routes and gain yardage after the catch. Add to that a running back who knows how to pick up the blitz and now a team that has been dinking and dunking down the field can start to go vertical with play action and that opens up the playbook to any style of offensive system “during” a game. Multi-talented/Position players are worth their weight in gold because they open up your offense on third and long to any play in your offense game plan and Bijan is just that, a multi-talented/Position player.
