Leading up to the 2020 NFL Draft, many draft experts believe the Atlanta Falcons will make a move up in the first round of the draft this week.
There is no question that this week’s 2020 NFL Draft will be an important one for the Atlanta Falcons. After missing the playoffs for a second straight season in 2019, the Falcons will have their work cut out for them in the draft on April 23-25 to try and bring in talent to try and improve ahead of the 2020 regular season.
With holes around the depth chart present, there are multiple needs for Atlanta to address in the upcoming draft. Unfortunately, the Falcons only hold six draft picks going into the annual draft. That is, at least as of now.
With Atlanta selecting first at No. 16 overall in the first round on Thursday night — also having one pick in each of the second, third and seventh rounds and two picks in the fourth round — the Falcons might try and make a move to add to that list of selections either before or during the draft.
In the days leading up to the draft, multiple news outlets have reported the fact that Atlanta could be a team that either packages together a few picks to move up in the first round, or could be a strong candidate to use future assets to gather more picks here in 2020.
According to ESPN’s Vaughn McClure, the Falcons have had conversations with multiple top prospects in the draft and that could mean Atlanta is preparing to either make a move up in the opening round or potentially trying to add another first-round selection.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported in the week leading up to the draft that the Falcons appear “poised to make some noise with a move up” in the opening round Thursday night.
One team that appears poised to make some noise with a move up is the #Falcons. They have spent a lot of times evaluating and talking to players who figure to be gone by No. 16… and when other teams do their projections, they believe Atlanta will be on the move.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 15, 2020
It wouldn’t be surprising to see Atlanta make some moves on draft night, especially with Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff’s history of making draft-day trades and coming out recently saying he is willing to make more moves again this year.
The most notable draft-day trade the Falcons put together was in 2011 when they packaged together five picks to move all the way up to No. 6 overall to select wide receiver Julio Jones. A year ago in 2019, Atlanta also traded its second- and third-round selections to move up into the final portion of the first round.
If the Falcons view a target in the first round as a franchise-changing player, they could try and make a move up rather than wait to see if that player falls to them in the draft order.
There are multiple options Atlanta could target in the opening round of the draft, including players at the cornerback, linebacker and defensive line positions. Those are likely the areas we will see the team address and the positions it prioritizes this offseason.
Although there are always multiple rumors that arise leading up to the draft, it appears as though Atlanta could be a team to keep an eye on as a squad that could shift around in the draft order this week.