Atlanta Falcons: The NFL draft has their full attention
The Atlanta Falcons have signed 11 new players in this years’ free agency period and appear to be done.
After a several day layoff between signings, the Falcons inked outside linebacker Courtney Upshaw to a one-year deal and that is likely it for the team.
The Falcons’ biggest splash was center Alex Mack and their second biggest was a tie between defensive end Derrick Shelby and wide receiver Mohamed Sanu. Atlanta rounded things off by signing Sean Weatherspoon, Tom Compton and Upshaw which rounds out a pretty solid signing class.
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Atlanta also signed some players that will battle it out in training camp for a spot on the 53-man roster, but the main ones are as listed above.
The Falcons have now turned their full attention over to the NFL draft which takes place at the end of April. Atlanta has just over a month left to visit with prospects and create their draft board. It’s an exciting time of the season but an extremely stressful one as well.
The Falcons’ 2016 draft class is going to be extremely important. With only five draft picks, the Falcons will need to hit a home run in order to compete for a playoff spot next season. Five picks is the league’s fewest so that will make things that much harder.
Expect at least one trade back in this draft. While it might not come in the first round, it could come at any given time after that. Five picks just isn’t realistic and the need to trade back in order to pick up a couple of extra picks is needed.
The Falcons have already met with outside linebacker Darron Lee out of Ohio State this past week. He has been mocked to the Falcons in a ton of draft’s and is considered to be one of their top prospects. He would likely take over the Falcons’ starting weak side linebacker spot and give them a much improved linebacking corps.
Next: Five mid-to-late round draft picks for the Atlanta Falcons
This next month is either going to drag along or fly by. Let’s hope its the latter so we can get a look at who the Falcons draft.