RECORD: Bijan Robinson Gets $75M! | Will NFL’s Highest-Paid RB Help Atlanta Falcons WIN NOW?

This is the Locked On Podcast Network, celebrating 10 years of your team every day. The hold-in is over, the check has cleared, and Mr. Walk-On-Water just became the highest paid running back in NFL history. But there's just one catch.

You are Locked On Falcons, your daily Atlanta Falcons podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the Locked On Falcons podcast. I'm your humble host, Aaron Freeman, a.k.a. Mr. NBCUniversal.

And on today's Locked On Falcons, it is brought to you by Calci. For a limited time, download the Calci app and use code LOCKEDON to get up to $500 in bonus credits when you trade $25. So on today's episode, we are talking all about B. John Robinson's big contract extension that we have been waiting several weeks to happen. But the bulk of today's episode won't be really talking about B. John really at all.

and it'll be talking about some of the other things that the Falcons need to get right in addition to this contract extension in order to make sure that this deal ages well but let's talk about what that deal exactly is which is a three-year 75 million dollar extension with 51 million guaranteed now locking B. John Robertson up through the 2030 season he is now the highest

paid running back in the NFL and in NFL history until Jamir gives signs, but that's probably going to happen soon, but we'll see on that. And it'll be interesting when the full terms of this deal are released because what I think is important to pay attention is going to be the guaranteed money, right? Now, I thought Bijan would get more than $51 million guaranteed. He still is not

the most guarantees on a running back contract because Jeremiah Love on his rookie deal is getting $53 million guaranteed. And I figured, oh, well, he's going to get more than 53. He'll get at least 54, if not $60 million on this deal. And he did not get that. So it'll be interesting to see if there's a sort of unique structure on those guarantees and whatnot. But I think more

importantly, it's going to be where those guarantees are pushed into. Are those guarantees through the 27 season, right? Are they through 2028? And ideally, as we've discussed so much over recent months is ideally because that 2028 season is Bichon's age 26 season. You don't necessarily want to push guarantees past that point because depending on who you ask, you know,

either age 27 or 28 is typically the age when running backs tend to decline. And it's not to say that Bichon is your typical running back, but you as an organization, if you're the Atlanta Falcons, just want to give yourself the flexibility just in case, just in case that Bichon age is more like a typical running back than like the elite running back that we know he is.

And, you know, can potentially push that peak production into, you know, his late twenties and possibly even his thirties. And, you know, that's going to be an interesting thing based off of these guarantees because that opens the door for future renegotiations of that deal depending on when those guarantees run out is that 2028 is that 2029 right and then you're having a conversation

about another extension on bichon should uh you know things go the way that the falcons hope they go for him in this team over the next couple of years that lock him in to the team beyond 2030 going into his age 28 season, I believe is that 2030 season. So potentially even longer for B. John Robinson.

But without knowing all those details right now, it's safe to assume that the bulk of the guarantees will be paid out in 2026, this year in 2027, possibly 2028. And that's a good deal so far based off of what we know for the Atlanta Falcons.

And we're not going to spend as much time on today's episode really breaking down this deal and why it's a great move for the Falcons or why it's not a great move for the Falcons, like we did with the Matthew Bergeron and Kyle Pitts deals.

We've been discussing the Falcons paying Bijan for months here on the podcast. There's very little debate on whether or not the Falcons should have paid Bijan except for the never-pay-running-backs crowd. More on them later.

But in general, the case for and against paying running backs like Bijan, Roberts and I wrote a piece over the weekend over at the Falcoholic that basically outlines the main points of what I would talk about if we were having that conversation on a podcast. And I'll try to link to that in the description below.

But we are going to talk about the potential issues that could make this deal age poorly coming up on today's episode. But very little of that is based around Bijan Robinson himself. He's widely considered to be the best running back in the NFL. We certainly consider him to be the best running back in the NFL. We have been labeling him Mr. Walk on Water since his arrival

in Atlanta. We have talked about him being that blue magic, the world being split into two types of people. There are people that are B. John Robinson fans and those people that have yet to watch him play football. We were very early on the B. John Robinson bandwagon here on the Locked on Falcons podcast. We were talking about him in December of 2022, four months before

the Falcons ultimately drafted him. And we were talking about him making a $25 million contract here on the podcast back in April of this year, right after the Falcons hired Bryce Johnston as their new salary cap guru. And so, of course, in an episode where I'm supposed to come on here and celebrate the greatness of B. John Robinson, I'm going to take my own personal victory lap. I'm

going to make it about me. I'm a peacock. Let me fly. That's why they call me AKA Mr. NBC Universal. but besides stroking my own ego when it comes to all great things bichon robinson and i will 100 take all the credit for his ability to walk on water you know i i had the vision so much earlier than anybody else uh here on the planet outside of you know bichon's grandparents and his mother and