NFL.com Urges Atlanta Falcons to Make Bold Move in NFL Draft

The NFL Draft is just over a week away with the Atlanta Falcons scheduled to pick 15th next Thursday night in Green Bay, Wisc. They only have three picks before the seventh round next week after trading their third round pick to New England. They also lost their fifth round pick as punishment for tampering in 2024's free agency that brought Kirk Cousins to the team among others.

General manager Terry Fontenot doesn't have a habit of moving back in the draft, having done it just once in his four-year tenure. He swapped places with the Denver Broncos in the second round in 2021 that netted him an additional fourth round pick that turned into center Drew Dalman.

NFL.com recently asked each of their pundits to name a trade they would like to see happen, and Eric Edholm had the Atlanta Falcons on his mind.

"I’d love to see the Atlanta Falcons move down from No. 15, perhaps making a deal with a quarterback-needy team," wrote Edholm on NFL.com. "Could the Falcons get a starting-caliber defender at their current draft slot? Yes. But even if they move down into the 30s, they might be picking from a similar pool of candidates.

"Atlanta only has five picks right now, including just one (No. 118 overall) in Rounds 3-6. For a team that's lost more than it has brought in this offseason, that’s a tough spot to be in. Moving down makes a ton of sense if there’s a buyer."

On a side note, none of the pundits mentioned Kirk Cousins. That's a trade the Falcons would love to make.

It's not considered a draft full of true-blue-chip prospects like 2021, so moving back five to 10 spots in the draft and adding more picks wouldn't necessarily mean an inferior prospect in the first round. Opinions vary widely on scouting reports through the top 50 this year.

Fontenot admitted after the season that he'd be open for business at No. 15.

"We can pick up some draft picks," said Fontenot in January. "We're picking at 15, so obviously we can move down and pick up more capital in the first or second round or wherever that is, and so we'll have those discussions and determine.

"We just have to make sure that we're as effective, whether it's the draft, free agency, extensions, everything that we're doing. We have to be effective with each one of those moves so we can put this team in position to win."

The Falcons have big needs at every level of their defense. It will be impossible to get an edge rusher, defensive tackle, and cornerback on the first two days of the draft without adding up another pick.

Fontenot has built an offense through the draft with the Falcons, but the defense has been neglected, much to the demise of the win-loss record. He needs to get at least two, preferably three, solid defenders from his current stock of five picks.

Trading back may be the only way.