Four moments Atlanta Falcons fans should be thankful for

The Atlanta Falcons were fresh of a playoff berth in 2010 when they lost to the eventual Super Bowl champions New York Giants in an abysmal 24-2 showing.

The Falcons had found their franchise quarterback in Matt Ryan and he had offensive weapons like Roddy White and Tony Gonzales but the Falcons insisted on adding more weapons for their quarterback.

The front office made a big draft-day trade to the Browns in which they sent 2011 first, second and fourth-round picks and the 2012 first and fourth-round picks to move up to the fifth spot to draft star wide receiver Julio Jones out of Alabama.

Now they could have used those pick to add depth to the team, but at the point in time, the front office felt like they were close and the selection of Julio Jones took this franchise to the next level offensively.

Jones made his presence felt from the very first game-ending up finishing third on the team in receptions, second in yards and tied for first in touchdowns.

Not only that, he gave the Atlanta Falcons another offensive weapon and in conjunction with Matt Ryan gave the Falcons one of the best wide receiver-quarterback duos in the NFL that stands to this day.

What did the Browns do with those picks? They ended up selecting Phil Taylor, Greg Little and Owen Marecic with the 2011 picks. In 2012, they selected Brandon Weeden and used the fourth-round pick they got from Atlanta to move up and draft Trent Richardson.

It’s safe to say the Falcons won that trade and even though they gave up a boatload to get Julio, it took a lot of courage for the front office to give all that up and it ended up paying off.