Redrafting the Atlanta Falcons 2017 draft class

Coming into the 2017 NFL Draft, the Atlanta Falcons had one objective – not screw up the draft. They were coming off an unexpected Super Bowl run and the future looked bright.

As every Atlanta Falcons fan can now attest, Thomas Dimitroff and Dan Quinn did screw it up. This was as bad a draft as any one team could have had and yet it did not have to be that way. We reflected on the draft in this FanSided rewind, so we won’t do that here.

Instead, let’s take a look back on who the Atlanta Falcons could have had. In order to do this, we will only select players that were available at the time of the original pick mad by the Atlanta Falcons and all trades will stay the same.

Yes, hindsight is always 20/20 but looking back, this speaks to just how bad of a job Thomas Dimitroff and the scouting department do in Atlanta. At some point, fans need to realize that this alone is why the franchise is no closer to winning a title than they were 10 years ago.

We see a lot of blame for Julio’s contract or Matt’s contract as a hindrance to the team’s success but when you couple actual bad contracts like Devonta Freeman or Desmond Trufant with the fact that Dimitroff is whiffing on entire draft classes, you get a better understanding of why this team is 7-9.

If you go back and look now, the theme of this draft should have been defense, defense, and defense. The amount of legit all-pro/pro-bowl talent on defense in this draft is ridiculous.