Atlanta Falcons: Unimpressive draft history from UGA & Ga Tech

The Atlanta Falcons do not have a great draft history from the local college teams.

Every year, Atlanta Falcons fans want the team to draft their favorite player or players from schools like UGA or Georgia Tech. While the franchise has selected 15 players from either of those two programs, they have not had much of a successful history doing so.

The last time the Atlanta Falcons drafted a player from UGA was in 2011 when they used a third-round draft pick on linebacker Akeem Dent. Dent spent just three seasons in Atlanta before moving to Houston where he spent his last three seasons.

During his time as the Atlanta Falcons middle linebacker, he made 20 starts, had 130 total tackles, 10 tackles for loss, and just 1.5 sacks.

Dent has been the most successful pick the Atlanta Falcons have made from UGA.

Of course, when talking about draft picks from Georgia Tech, the Falcons have had far better luck.

Going back to the 1975 NFL Draft, the franchise has selected six players from Tech – three of them have been fairly successful NFL players – Al Richardson in the early 80s, Keith Brooking in the late 90s, and Vance Walker in the late 00s.

Keith Brooking is the only player from either college program to be selected in the first round by the Atlanta Falcons.

Over the years, the Atlanta Falcons have had opportunities to select former players like David Andrews, Shaq Mason, Isaiah Wynn, Sony Michel, Nick Chubb, Deandre Baker, Lamont Gaillard, Alec Ogletree, and Mecole Hardman.

Most of those guys were not even first-round picks, which means Thomas Dimitroff passed on them multiple times.

Offensive linemen like David Andrews, Shaq Mason, Isaiah Wynn, and Lamont Gaillard would be better than the guy’s currently in Atlanta and would have helped to solve the issues that the offense has had in recent years.

The Atlanta Falcons more than likely do not have any UGA or Georgia Tech player on its 2021 draft board as there simply isn’t anyone from the two programs that stand out but general manager Terry Fontenot and head coach Arthur Smith would be foolish to keep an eye out on what is happening under the directions of Kirby Smart and Geoff Collins over the next few years.