Atlanta Falcons add QB in NFL Spin Zone 2021 mock draft

The Atlanta Falcons are in dire need of a backup quarterback.

Over the last month or so, the Atlanta Falcons have lost both Matt Schaub to retirement and have released practice squad quarterback Kurt Benkert.

New general manager Terry Fontenot that between Arthur Smith’s offense and the weapons that the team has, that quarterbacks will want to play in Atlanta – this is a far cry from the past and from the thinking of former GM Thomas Dimitroff.

That said, NFL Spin Zone’s Randy Gurzi believes that the Atlanta Falcons will stick with the fourth pick in this year’s draft and take a quarterback.

In his latest mock draft, he has the Atlanta Falcons selecting BYU quarterback Zach Wilson.

Gurzi had this say about the pick –

"Ryan and the Falcons have been struggling in recent seasons with three-straight losing campaigns. Now, on the heels of a 4-12 record, the Falcons could try and get future picks by trading their remaining stars away. Being able to do so would mean that they have another option ready to go, which is why they use the No. 4 pick on Zach Wilson out of BYU."

The issue with that statement is it sounds like Matt Ryan has been to blame for their three straight-losing seasons. Regardless of what metric you look at, this simply isn’t true.

Matt Ryan has still been one of the league’s best quarterbacks despite playing behind one of the league’s worst offensive lines and opposite one of the NFL’s worst defenses. Let’s not even get into the coaching disasters that Matt has had to play for.

Not the right time to take a QB in the first round for the Falcons

While Blogging Dirty has maintained that the Atlanta Falcons will certainly draft a quarterback in 2021, we do not believe that they will take one that high in the draft as there are simply too many other needs that they have to address at this point.

You cannot get rid of Matt Ryan for another two seasons, so spending upwards of $8 million on a backup at this point simply would not make sense – especially when you look ahead to the 2022 and 2023 QB classes and the field generals they can potentially be added at that point – Sam Howell and DJ Uiagalelei among others.

Of course, as we have pointed out several times, what the Atlanta Falcons will do is nothing but pure speculation.

It seems as if the only things that are certain at this point are Matt Ryan and Julio Jones coming back for at least 2021, Arthur Smith loves Calvin Ridley and the team has no intention of letting kicker Younghoe Koo walk in free agency.

We are roughly 60 days out from the 2021 NFL draft and while this won’t be the last mock draft that has the Atlanta Falcons taking a quarterback in the Top 5, with all the other issues that they need to address first, it simply would not make sense to do so.