Being connected to rumors of making a big leap in the first round, the Falcons attempted to craft a major trade-up. They tried to move from No. 16 to No. 2 to draft Chase Young, Jay Glazer of Fox Sports reports (on Twitter).
Young was indeed Atlanta’s target at No. 2, but Glazer adds the Redskins view the Ohio State pass rusher as too valuable to part ways with the draft’s second pick (Twitter link). This may have been the “complete offer” ESPN’s Josina Anderson referenced earlier Wednesday.
Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff is not new to big-game hunting in the draft. In 2011, he executed a trade that vaulted the Falcons from No. 26 to No. 6. That selection produced a future Hall of Fame player in Julio Jones. Dimitroff’s efforts this time around have thus far been unsuccessful. But Atlanta has been linked to a trade-up for several days now; a tackle may be another target in this pursuit.
The Falcons already authorized a three-year, $48MM deal for Dante Fowler. Sacrificing extensive draft assets to move up for Young would have made this an incredible offseason regarding Falcons resource allocation at defensive end. The team still has Takk McKinley as well.
Neither McKinley nor fellow ex-first-rounder Vic Beasley — now with the Titans — has played on the level the Falcons hoped. And Atlanta had a McKinley replacement lined up. With no other Young-caliber edge-rushing prospect in this draft, the Falcons might need to go with a Fowler-McKinley tandem.
Lol Atlanta is a choke artist city (Sherman shoulda/coulda burnt to the ground) but they don’t have they capital to trade to #2. Only the Redskins with their equally flawed upper Management could F* this up and trade out of a stud like Chase Young, best D by far
No prospect is a sure thing
It’s actually a very safe bet that at least half the first round picks won’t even have starting jobs in the NFL in 3 years time.
Probably so
Someone from Atlanta get your mom pregnant and then never talk to you??? No one alive now fought in that war, and your not hurting anyone’s feelings, haha!
Thank god they said no pick 16 plus future 1st with the picks in the 20s isn’t worth passing up on young
It is for like 5 of them. If Mack cost 2, and then needed a mega contract, bidding has to start at 3, or maybe even 4 for Young.
If Mack…an NFL all-pro gets 2 picks then a prospect, who has never played an NFL game, would get 3…what’s your thinking on that?
For starters, there’s obviously the huge potential. But the big reason is the cheap contract for four years.
I had the right idea, wrong team. He is the best player in this draft w/Tua’s injury history.
Can you blame them? The Falcons defense is cheeks all over.
Falcon’s panicked like one of those guys that always finish last in a fantasy draft. The player they realistically wanted at 16 (Kinlaw) went two picks ahead of them to a team that no one expected would draft him. The Falcons were then stuck in an area with no one that clearly stood out to fit their needs .. so instead of drafting the best available or trading down .. they make a panic pick.
We will never know in hindsight, but many mocks had Terrell going in the 50’s (aka … in the area of Altanta’s pick .. in the SECOND ROUND). They should have went with best available. Could you image CeeDee taking the top off defenses for Julio, Ridley and Gurley to work underneath? Or teams cheating to cover Julio and play it safe against Gurley, leaving CeeDee in isolated man coverage? Would have been hard to outscore the Falcons.
Don’t like the CeeDee idea, then how about Chaisson? Clearly a higher ranked player and would have been rotational this year with Takk/Flowers .. and could easily replace Takk next year.
Or Ruiz. Clearly would be rotational at G or a backup this year to Mack, but would then be the clear starter next year when Mack’s deal runs out.
Or .. just trade down. Surely someone would have wanted to move up for CeeDee in a pass happy NFL. They could have added a 3rd or 4th at the least, and maybe more depending on the team/situation.
Instead, TD and the Falcons soiled the bed. The Falcons had a really solid draft last year, and a decent 2018 .. but they have some major ground to make up for if they want 2020 to look decent.
EDIT – And I like Terrell. Not trying to hate. He just wisn’t a good pick at this spot. He played on the team with probably the top, or second best defensive front in college football. The team also had a solid LB core, again in the top handful of teams. A CB in that situation should look better than they really are. Even with that, he got fleeced against good QB/WR tandems. Had he played anywhere but the offensively offensive ACC .. he would likely have graded out much lower than second round.