Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley laid his claim to the title of best running back in the NFL last season, setting an NFL record with 2,504 rushing yards, including the postseason, when his new team won the Super Bowl.
There’s not much room for debate, but if anyone else in the league can take the title from him, it could be Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson, who has lived up to the hype of being the No. 8 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Barkley recently had high praise for Robinson.
“There’s nobody who’s able to cut like Bijan in the NFL. There’s not. You can go argue with your mom about that. Trust me. I love myself and I think I have great cuts. There’s nobody,” Barkley said, via Dov Kleiman.
Wow: Saquon Barkley gives extremely high praise when talking about Bijan Robinson:
“There’s nobody who’s able to cut like Bijan in the NFL. There’s not. You can go argue with your mom about that. Trust me. I love myself and I think I have great cuts. There’s nobody… It’s… pic.twitter.com/k6v15x8M2M
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) July 25, 2025
It’s good to see a player as talented as Barkley hyping up his peers, especially when it comes to running backs, who have started to band together against the notion that they shouldn’t receive big contracts.
Barkley and Derrick Henry being worth every dollar they have been paid in recent years is going a long way toward forcing teams to reconsider the idea that you can’t build a championship roster around a highly paid running back.
If Robinson continues on his current trajectory, he could find himself resetting the market.
He stepped into more of a featured role for the Falcons last season and posted 1,887 scrimmage yards and 15 touchdowns, playing in all 17 games for the second consecutive year.
There is no ceiling on how good Robinson can be, and it would be tough to dispute the claim Barkley made about him being the best cutter in the league.