Todd Gurley would have been a disaster for the Atlanta Falcons

UGA fans get upset whenever the Atlanta Falcons do not draft their favorite player. The biggest example of this is when the Atlanta Falcons selected defensive end, Vic Beasley, from Clemson instead of Todd Gurley in the 2015 NFL Draft.

The Falcons selected Beasley with the eighth overall pick and the Rams selected Gurley with the tenth overall pick. UGA fans were screaming for Todd Gurley and they went full force on Twitter in the Falcons mentions when they selected Beasley. Going into the draft most NFL scouts did not even think Beasley would be available at pick number eight.

Vic Beasley has not lived up to his potential, but he is 100 percent the correct pick over Todd Gurley. Trigger warning for Georgia fans: selecting Todd Gurley would have been a disaster for the Falcons. During the 2014 NFL season, the Falcons had a historically bad pass rush finishing dead last in sacks and there was not a single defensive lineman that was young with potential.

Devonta Freeman was also coming off a decent rookie season. The pass rush was miles and miles a bigger need and they needed to take one in the first round. Had the Falcons selected Todd Gurley the Falcons would not have went on their playoff run during the 2016 season.

Vic Beasley was a huge factor in the 2016 season as he was the only consistent pass rusher on the team. He led the NFL in sacks and without him, the Falcons defense was even more vulnerable. Replace Beasley with Gurley on the 2016 team, the Falcons likely finish 7-9 or 8-8. With that record, Matt Ryan would not have won MVP.

The Falcons also found value at running back later during the 2015 NFL Draft by selecting Tevin Coleman in the third round. Since laving the Falcons, Coleman has done very well as he in on the San Francisco 49ers playing in the Super Bowl on Sunday.

During the 2020 NFL Draft, the Atlanta Falcons need to remind themselves they can find a good running back in the later rounds of the draft. They should not over draft someone just because they played at Georgia.