Disclaimer: The statements and opinions regarding players and/or potential future players in the article below are those of the AtlantaFalcons.com editorial staff and are not of the Atlanta Falcons' football personnel, unless noted in a direct quote.
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The Atlanta Falcons currently hold just five picks in the 2025 NFL Draft, which would match the fewest selections in the franchise's history if that number holds.
Two of those picks are in the seventh round, meaning only three of Atlanta's selections will come on the first two days of the event where the majority of contributing NFL players are found. The Falcons don't have much financial wiggle room for the 2025 season, meaning their best way to infuse their roster with new talent moving forward will be the draft.
Given the state of things, Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot has made it known that he would consider offers to increase their overall number of picks.
"We can pick up some draft picks," Fontenot said at his press conference after the 2024 season. "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."
While the Falcons may be keen to recoup some draft capital, it will need another team to help make that happen. And therein lies a potential hurdle.
One of the primary refrains about the 2025 draft class is that it has a bell-curve quality about it. Without a high number of prospects draft pundits are labeling as elite, something of a consensus is building that the best value might come anywhere from late in the first round to the end of the third round.
"This doesn't feel like the year (teams) are going to make a big trade-up splash. If anything, that you're going to trade back," NFL Network report Cameron Wolfe told AtlantaFalcons.com at the NFL combine. "I was talking to someone last night, and their thought was, 'Hey, picks 20-50 may be the same caliber of player.'"
In that light, Atlanta's desire to trade down makes even more sense.
However, will they find a team who sees things a little differently and wants to move up, particularly in the first round for the No. 15 pick? Even if a team is willing to move up, will the right circumstances unfold?
"Could you drop down 10 spots and pick up a (third-round pick)? That's something you'd be looking at," NFL reporter Albert Breer told AtlantaFalcons.com at the combine. "The question becomes, what is someone moving up for? If you are at a point in the draft where it is really flat, and teams are saying there's not a big difference, well then you need a run on a position."
In a reversal from last year, when offensive players went with each of the first 14 picks, the 2025 NFL Draft features a high number of prominent defensive prospects. There are a lot of edge rushers, defensive linemen and defensive backs for teams to choose from, but that higher supply could dampen demand. And if a run were to happen at, say, edge rusher in the first round, would the Falcons still eye moving back or would they want to stick at No. 15 and get their chance at a top guy before he's gone?
It's difficult to pinpoint exactly which positional run Atlanta would benefit from most, but the relativize scarcity of offensive impact players at the top of the draft might be a good place to start. In that situation, the defenders would be pushed further down the board and give the Falcons more options if that's the side of the ball they intend to pursue.
In the remaining weeks until the draft, the Falcons will be running through all of these scenarios. There is also the possibility that Atlanta moves a player on its roster for extra draft capital.
Under Fontenot, the Falcons have not made a first-round trade in the draft. But this is a new year and a new situation. A new approach may be needed.
"If they can find a way to recoup the (third-round) pick they lost there in that (Matthew Judon) trade, based on the makeup of the class, I think that's something you'd be looking to do," Breer said. "Again, it's going to boil down to there being something there for somebody to come up and get."
