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 uncovered the reason why the Falcons felt they needed someone like Casey Washington in a revamped wide receiver room. This week, we finish up the Finding Falcons series with the Falcons final pick of the 2024 NFL Draft: Zion Logue.
Story by Tori McElhaney
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. – On the night the Falcons selected defensive lineman Zion Logue with their final pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, Jay Rodgers said no one would be able to overlook Logue when he made his way to rookie minicamp.
"He's going to walk through that door in a couple of weeks and he's going to block out the sun," the Falcons defensive line coach said. "That's the first thing you're going to realize when you meet him for the first time."
Standing at 6-foot-5, 314 pounds, it only takes a look to understand what Rodgers tried to convey on draft night. And while that size is more than good for the Falcons' defensive front, it's not the only reason Atlanta saw value in Logue.
His redeeming quality, according to Rodgers, is his ability to lock guys out. If you turn on the tape, he's shedding blocks and pushing the pocket. His mechanics and effort match what the Falcons are looking for, too.
"He's big. He's strong. He's rugged," Falcons area scout Shepley Heard said. "He's just heavy-handed. … His effort, his urgency, his finish. He's trying, and there's not a lot of ups and downs with this guy's effort. It's very steady. He plays hard and for a big guy that plays hard down in and down out? That's not an easy thing to find, either."
The pick of Logue actually follows a slight pattern the Falcons have followed in the last three draft cycles, which is using their final draft picks to bring in a player that so happens to come from the SEC.
Atlanta drafted Georgia's Justin Shaffer and John FitzPatrick in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL Draft, South Carolina's Jovaughn Gwyn and Alabama's DeMarcco Hellams with their final two picks of 2023 and then, of course, Logue in the seventh round this year.
Perhaps this doesn't mean much, but as experts at every level can attest: The deepest and greatest competition for players often comes out of these programs in this specific conference. And when you get to the end of the draft? You're looking for competition and role-fillers more than you're looking for true starters. If you find one? Great. The Falcons did with Hellams. But if not, you have – at the bare minimum – someone who can come in and compete, something they would have had to do against stiff competition at a place like Alabama or Georgia.
This is something both Heard and Rodgers took notice of when asking around about Logue.
"He's played along that Georgia front for a number of years," Rodgers said. "He's been a part of that rotation. So, he's playing with first-round picks in Jordan Davis, he's playing with Jalen Carter, he's playing with all those guys. He's a part of a unit and you've got to have a great unit to play the game of football."
That, and Logue knows what a big moment looks like. It's not something he ever shied away from, wasn't intimidated by.
"Obviously, he's starting at Georgia. He's had starts this year, he started last year, the guy's won two national championships," Heard said. "So, he's proven he can hold up in the SEC and big time (moments), the biggest level of football in college."
With the physical and proverbial heat of his first professional training camp upon him, it's a heat Logue knows all too well.
"He's a guy that's experienced big-time games, won multiple championships in college and was coached by a very good football coach, as well as a head coach," Rodgers concluded. "He knows how to play the game."
