Report: Falcons willing to overlook character concerns of multiple draft prospects

The Falcons have placed a lot of emphasis on the “ethos” of the players they bring to Atlanta, with the most notable example being their decision to draft Bijan Robinson over Jalen Carter.

Carter came into the draft process with off-the-field concerns stemming from an incident at Georgia, where a teammate and a staffer were killed while the group was racing. The former Bulldogs star was considered one of the most talented prospects in the entire class, and he played a position of need for the Falcons.

Carter was a game-wrecking interior defender, but the Falcons elected to draft Bijan Robinson, in part, because of his “ethos” over Carter, despite Tyler Allgeier coming off a record-breaking rookie campaign.

The Falcons aren’t upset with Bijan Robinson; in fact, I love him and so do a lot of other fans. He’s easily one of the five best running backs in football and looks like he’ll have a long, successful career in Atlanta. However, let’s not pretend the Falcons couldn’t use Jalen Carter.

He’s one of the best players at his position, which just so happens to be a premium one. Even if Robinson is as good of a running back as Carter is a defensive tackle, teams would still prefer Carter because of the positional value.

It’s the kind of decision that should be criticized, but it seems the Falcons might be willing to make an exception this year. There are multiple prospects with “character concerns” that have been linked to the Falcons, and the team is reportedly willing to look past them.

Todd McShay revealed the Falcons, along with the Bengals, are a couple of teams eyeing Tennessee’s James Pearce Jr., Marshall’s Mike Green, and Ole Miss’ Walter Nolen.

“James Pierce and Walter Nolan, two guys I keep hearing they’ve got some red flags, some football character red flags attached with them,” McShay said. “I’m hearing Atlanta is maybe perfectly fine to overlook those things. You know, another organization that does? The Cincinnati Bengals pick at 17.

“Whichever guys aren’t there. Mike Green, James Pierce. . .I’m told those two organizations would be willing to overlook it and Walter Nolan’s another guy to keep into consideration at 15.”