Finding Falcons is a series that ventures beyond Atlanta's decision to draft a specific player and reveals the why behind doing so. Exclusive interviews with Falcons position coaches, area scouts and the decision-makers at the top detail the moments that solidified the decision to draft each of the men who make up their 2024 draft class. For the next few weeks, we'll tell those stories.
Last week, we looked into why trust guided the Falcons' decision to draft Jase McClellan out of Alabama. This week, a charismatic Casey Washington takes center stage.
Story by Tori McElhaney
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- In order to tell the story about why the Falcons drafted Casey Washington in the sixth round of the 2024 NFL Draft in May, you have to go back to January.
The Falcons' season had just ended, and the wide receiver position was at a crossroads.
There was only one receiver on the 2023 squad that was under contract with the team in 2024. That lone receiver was Drake London. So, yes, Atlanta had work to do to build up the room around him.
It's work that started early, with Ike Hilliard coming in as the wide receivers coach, and continued through the start of free agency. The Falcons brought back KhaDarel Hodge and signed a trio of receivers: Darnell Mooney, Ray-Ray McCloud and Rondale Moore. It didn't take long for the room to shape out. But there was still a little something missing. The Falcons still needed a catch-all, someone with a certain position flexibility. Enter Washington, a 200-pound, fifth-year senior from Illinois.
"What's intriguing about Casey, regarding his size, is it's relative to how we had to rebuild the room when we got here," Hilliard explained the night the Falcons drafted Washington. "He'll be a player that we're going to ask to play all three positions."
Washington had been on the Falcons' radar for years, according to area scout Richard Sanders. He'd been consistent in his performance with the Illini, only accounting for seven drops in five seasons and 55 games. As Dane Brugler noted in his 2024 draft guide, the "top selling point is (Washington's) hand-eye coordination." That, and still, the Falcons liked the look of him.
"You see a big-body receiver with good speed and hands," Sanders said. "He catches your attention."
It's true that Washington's Illinois stats don't fly off the page the way some top picks in the class do. Sometimes you have to look at the development to try to predict what a player could be, more than the sheer numbers he's accumulated in college.
"With kids like Casey you want to see growth, you want to see maturity, you want to see them get better on a yearly basis. That progression is important, for him to take advantage of opportunities and get better was attractive," Hilliard said. "But we like kids that are tough. We appreciate kids that are able to get their nails dirty and who are not afraid to play in between the numbers."
That's Washington, too.
Nothing ever came easy for Washington. He was a high school receiver in a run-heavy, wing-T offense in Round Rock, Texas. He was under-recruited, not highly valued. He went through a coaching change after his second season with Illinois, which prompted Washington to transfer to Wake Forest in January of 2021. It was a move that didn't fit or stick, though, and Washington made his way back to the Illini. He only got five starts the following season, and fell just shy of 300 receiving yards.
But something about Washington? He hung around, and worked hard enough to make the perseverance pay off. In his final season, Washington started 11 games and gained 670 yards with four touchdowns. More importantly, the character he displayed intrigued Sanders enough to bring Washington's name to the Falcons' front office.
"He comes in, he has the blonde hair," Sanders laughed. "He's got style and swag to him, but the people in the building love him. (He's) a good teammate, has leadership ability to him. On the practice field he's a good worker, front-of-the-line type of guy. ... Just seeing those things that he does and provides, and what the coaching staff says about him and then how that translates over to the field is just — he's a good kid to have."
In the end, though, when the Falcons were on the clock in the sixth round, they kept going back to what fits. Washington, they found, did. And it goes right back to what Hilliard said about Washington in the beginning: He has the size and versatility the Falcons feel they need to fill out a room full of new faces.
"Seeing a guy with that size on the outside who can play both outside and in, (with) good speed, good hands," Sanders reiterated, "those are the type of guys you want."
