Atlanta Falcons could make NFL history in 2021 NFL draft

The Atlanta Falcons could be narrowing down their choices for the 2021 NFL draft.

Selecting in the Top 10 of any professional draft, like the Atlanta Falcons are, is an odd reward for being terrible but that is exactly where the franchise is and maybe for another couple of years.

Sitting in the four spot gives general manager Terry Fontenot a lot of flexibility – he can stay put, move up or move down and select a wide variety of talent in all three of those situations. According to Philadelphia radio host Rob Maadi, it sounds like the Atlanta Falcons are starting to narrow their decision.

Maadi is an evening host on 97.5 The Fanatic in Philly and he tweeted out this week that the Eagles liked Florida tight end, Kyle Pitts, at the sixth spot but the Atlanta Falcons liked him as their four pick.

If this is indeed true and Rob Maadi is hearing things correctly, that pick would be an interesting one as Fontenot’s first pick as an NFL general manager.

There is no doubt that Kyle Pitts is an elite talent and a top 10 pick, but do the Falcons really need another playmaker on offense? Yes, we get it, Fontenot stated that his draft philosophy was to select the best available player but how does the draft’s best tight end make you better?

For the Atlanta Falcons, it would not make them any better.

This selection would also make NFL history.

No tight end has ever been drafted in the Top 5 picks of an NFL draft – two have come close. In 2004 former Miami tight end and now prison inmate Kellen Winslow Jr was selected sixth overall by the Browns. Two years later the great Vernon Davis was also taken sixth overall out of Maryland by the 49ers.

If the Atlanta Falcons took Kyle Pitts fourth overall, he would be the first tight end ever selected in the Top 5. At 6’6 240 pounds, he brings a lot of athleticism and versatility to the field. If you watch college football, you saw how much Heisman finalist Kyle Trask struggled in the Cotton Bowl without him.

While giving Matt Ryan another weapon to use in the Arthur Smith offense is great, the Falcons currently have no depth upfront or a legit starting running back and that doesn’t even include the issues on defense.

A lot of rumors will come and go over the next six weeks until the actual NFL draft, this is one of the more interesting ones given it wouldn’t address a need the team currently has.