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In Atlanta Falcons history, the most consistent skill position has been running back. During down years and up years, the team has been blessed with quality in the backfield more often than not.
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That makes it somewhat difficult to pick the best five to play the spot in Atlanta. For example, we left out two of the top five touchdown scorers in team history and two of the top six yards rushing leaders.
But the players we’ve selected as the best five running backs in team history deserve the spots, although you might quibble with where each individual person is slotted. Let’s get to it.
5. Jamal Anderson (1994-2001)
No one personifies the Falcons’ Dirty Bird era better than Anderson, the bruising back who barely made the NFL after being selected as a seventh-round pick in 1994.
By 1996, Anderson supplanted another banger in Craig “Ironhead” Heyward at the top of the depth chart and ran for his first of three 1,000-yard seasons. Chris Chandler arrived to play quarterback the next season and the Falcons were suddenly on the rise.
In 1998, Anderson rumbled for 1,846 yards and 14 touchdowns, leading Atlanta to the Super Bowl and cementing the Dirty Bird touchdown dance into NFL lore.
Anderson ranks fifth in Falcons history with 5,336 yards rushing and his 34 rushing touchdowns rank third.
4. Bijan Robinson (2023-Present)
The 2026 season will only be Robinson’s fourth in the NFL, but we think he’s done enough to crack this list. Considering what may lay ahead for him, it’s possible he ranks even higher if we were to re-write this in 10 years.
Consider, Robinson already ranks sixth in team history in yards rushing and eighth in touchdowns. He’s coming off back-to-back 1,400-yard seasons and Pro Bowls, as well.
The 2025 season was his best as Robinson earned first-team All-Pro honors and finished fourth in Offensive Player of the Year voting.
3. Gerald Riggs (1982-1988)
The mid-to-late 80s were the darkest days in Falcons history, but don’t blame Riggs for any of that. He was one of the best backs in the NFL at the time.
An Arizona State product, Riggs took over top back duties in 1984, his third year in the league. He ran for almost 1,500 yards with 13 touchdowns that season but inexplicably didn’t make the Pro Bowl.
That was remedied the next three seasons as Riggs ran for 3,921 yards and 21 touchdowns from 1985 to 1987. His body began to break down after that, but he won a Super Bowl in his final season, 1991, as a back-up in Washington.
2. William Andrews (1979-1986)
Immediately prior to Riggs’ stint, the Falcons were blessed with Andrews, who was an absolute beast of a back in the early 1980s. But a knee injury forced him to miss the 1984 and 1985 seasons and he came back as a tight end for just one more year.
Andrews made an immediate impression, not just as a runner, but as pass catcher, too.
He ran for more than 1,000 yards and caught 39 passes as a rookie in 1979. Andrews made the first of four straight Pro Bowls the next season with his best year coming in 1981 when he ran for more than 1,300 yards with 10 touchdowns while catching another 81 passes.
He’d run for 1,567 yards the year before his injury, racking up 5,772 over his four healthy seasons in the backfield.
1. Michael Turner (2008-2012)
Turner spent his first four seasons in San Diego as one of the top back-up running backs in the NFL. He just happened to be stuck behind one of the best to ever play in LaDainian Tomlinson.
The Falcons saw enough of him going into the 2008 season that they signed him to take over starting duties. Jackpot. Turner ran for 1,699 yards and 17 touchdowns en route to a second-place finish in Most Valuable Player voting as he provided some ground protection for rookie quarterback Matt Ryan.
He spent four more seasons with the Falcons as the team’s No. 1 back and ranks only behind Riggs in second in team rushing history, while his 60 scores on the ground are tops.
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This story was originally published September 17, 2026 at 2:19 AM.