The instincts were always there. In fact, it's what Robinson calls his "God-given gift." But as the competition got better, so did he. Instinct could take him far, but it wasn't enough. He studied. He learned. He remembered.
In any run play at any level within any scheme, nine offensive players are blocking 11 defenders. There will always be free hitters because a quarterback and running back aren't blocking anyone. It could be a backside corner, maybe a safety or even a defensive end. Regardless, at some point, there will be more defenders trying to stop a run than there are offensive players to get in their way.
On any given play in the Falcons' playbook, Robinson knows who those free hitters are and where they're coming from.
"He understands the big picture," Pitre said. "Where the holes should be, what the offense is trying to accomplish, defensive tendencies, which guy to worry about, all of it."
Once he studies and understands the landscape, the artist gets to work.
Enter the juke. A moment in time when Robinson uses his eyes and body position to lead a defender away from the spot he wants to go. A moment when a defender loses his leverage because Robinson took it. Stole it like a thief in the night.
"The juke is something that is so hard to anticipate as a defender, and when you do it right, then, you have a lot of defenders they don't sprint at you anymore. They hesitate. They don't know what's going to happen," Robinson said. "That's my goal: To make you hesitate. To make you think. A lot. Because when I am making you think on the field, then you are not playing at your maximum ability. That's how you make guys look silly on the field."
Robinson's game is measured by explosive yards and missed tackles, but it is _made_ in split-second decisions he consistently gets right.
What began as a childhood juke on a Pop Warner field has evolved into a game-changing art form backed by science, strategy and sheer physical feats.
Through the lens of the OODA Loop, Robinson's abilities become clear. He's not reacting. He's observing, orienting, deciding and acting — faster than every other person around him, even when those within arm's reach are the top 1% of athletes in the world.
"Being able to make people miss, that's truly what agility is," Jernstrom said. "It's not just change of direction, but reacting to the stimulus on the field whether it be players, down and distance or the situation."
In a blur of motion, when defenders hesitate and a crowd gasps, Robinson isn't simply playing football. He's conducting a symphony of deception, and he's always one step ahead.
"There's nobody who is able to cut like Bijan in the NFL," Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley said. "There's not. You can go argue with your mom about that."
Barkley said this prior to the 2025 season's start. Two weeks into October, Robinson leads the league in yards from scrimmage with 822 through five games. That's the fourth-most by a player in his team's first five games of a season in the Super Bowl era. He's [on pace](https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/bijan-robinson-on-pace-to-break-nfl-record-for-yards-from-scrimmage-in-a-season) to surpass players like Marshall Faulk, Barry Sanders, Christian McCaffrey and Barkley himself as the all-time leaders in scrimmage yards accumulated in a single season.
"It's finna get scary for a lot of people as he continues to figure it out," Barkley said.
"I still think his best football is ahead of us," Pitre concluded.