S.I.’s Albert Breer on When Falcons & Lions Could Extend Bijan & Jahmyr

Two of the best young running backs in football are due for new deals, and Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer thinks the holdup has less to do with Atlanta or Detroit than with each other.

Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs, Breer told Rich, are locked in "a little bit of a game of contractual chicken." Neither side wants to go first.

Breer sees the same dynamic at cornerback, where Christian Gonzalez and Devon Witherspoon are playing off each other. The two corners actually share an agent. In both cases, Breer said, the question is "who's going to go first?" And both positions are "due for a reset."

Running back is the harder one to price. Breer called Saquon Barkley's contract hard to value and noted the rest of the position has been stuck around 16 for a long time. "And so, how do you value a Robinson or Gibbs who are so important to their teams?"

That question lit up Rich. He was quick to clarify that none of it was a shot at Chris Olave, and that it was "not in any way, shape, or form an Ohio State thing." Olave has been great, Rich said, and New Orleans needs him to win. But wide receivers depend on the quarterback to get them the ball.

"Why are wide receivers valued double the rate of a running back? I don't get it," Rich said, pointing to Robinson in Atlanta, Gibbs in Detroit and what James Cook was able to do for Buffalo.

Breer had a data point that sharpened the case. In 2024, three big-name veteran backs hit the market at once: Barkley, Derrick Henry and Josh Jacobs. They signed with the Eagles, Ravens and Packers.

"My first thought, I may have even said it to you at the time, those are not dumb teams," Breer said. His read was that running backs had been devalued to the point where their contracts became a bargain. "I think a running back contract is a great asset," he said, adding that when Barkley signed with Philadelphia he got essentially the same deal Darnell Mooney got in Atlanta. "Isn't that insane?"

"It's nuts, man," Rich said. His point was not that receivers lack value. It was that running backs matter as much or more, "cuz they're standing right next to the quarterback." They touch the ball more, they can take time off the clock, and they can end a football game at any point.

Breer added one more reason Robinson and Gibbs are special. "Those guys are queens on the chessboard," he said, because they can line up as receivers and defenses never know where they are going after the huddle.

"Damn straight," Rich said. He still does not understand why the market disagrees.