The Falcons have made a move up the board, but not to take one of the remaining quarterbacks. Atlanta is sending picks 43 and 114 to the Giants for No. 38, and are selecting defensive end Arnold Ebiketie.
One of the top remaining edge rushers, Ebiketie’s production took off over the past two seasons, a stretch which included his final year at Temple and his first – and only – at Penn State. After putting up 15.5 sacks with the Owls, he moved up in competition level but remained an effective speed rushing force. He posted 9.5 sacks and 18 tackles for a loss in 2021.
Ebiketie will add a much-needed boost to Atlanta’s pass rush. The team ranked dead last in the league in sacks last season, so he should have plenty of playing time right away. If his production translates to the NFL level, he could help the team’s defensive turnaround as they look to rebuild in the post-Matt Ryan era. Meanwhile, a QB still isn’t out of the question for them.
I like this guy. I don’t know if the Falcons needed to trade up to get him, though. They probably could have just standed pat and drafted both this guy and Malik Willis. I don’t mind drafting a good player who isn’t the top ranked remaining guy (that is Malik Willis who was the top ranked QB going into the draft and was the top ranked player going into today but is somehow still available) but I just don’t like the idea of trading up to draft a guy who isn’t expected to go where you draft anyway. We saw the Falcons do this with Caleb McGary. They traded up into the first round to get a guy who was projected to be available in the 3rd round. Then he sucks. If you are going to trade up for someone, trade up for the best player on the board who was never supposed to fall that low anyway. Don’t trade up to draft a guy who has a bunch of players ahead of him on the projected draft board anyway. I do think this guy could be good, though. I just don’t think the Falcons needed to trade up to get him. Chances are, one of the guys ranked ahead of him would be drafted by other teams instead. Only trade up if someone is falling. Never trade up to reach. That’s how Dan Quinn got the Falcons in this situation. Trading up for guys like McGary and Jalen Collins who were projected lower because they aren’t worth a darn. Then ignore the guys who were projected to go higher but fell out of sheer luck. That is not a recipe for success but it is the recipe the Falcons have used for a long time now. No wonder they are where they are. The Falcons haven’t had a good draft since the Grady Jarret draft. They occasionally luck out with one player like AJ Terrell or Kyle Pitts. The rest of the draft always sucks though. It’s an organizational problem. They need to trade Deion Jones before June so they can pay him everything they owe him this year when they can’t compete anyway. Free up that cap space for the years that matter. Jones is not a $23 million a year linebacker.
Pay Deion Jones everything you owe him in 2022 because you won’t win this year anyway. Otherwise, his ridiculous bloated $23 million salary will just prevent you from affording players who could actually really help in 2023 when you might actually contend. Deion Jones, DeVontae Freeman, Julio Jones. How many guys do the Falcons have to vastly overpay for past performance when they won’t be that good in the future before they learn their lesson? Deion Jones is the last truly terrible contract on the team and they need to take advantage of the obvious bad season they are about to have so his terrible contract doesn’t hurt their salary cap during the seasons they may actually be better.