The Atlanta Falcons will now control the direction of the NFL Draft

Atlanta Falcons now control the direction of the 2021 NFL Draft.

Friday, the Atlanta Falcons first-round pick in 2021 became a lot more valuable after the San Francisco 49ers traded up to the number three overall pick with the Miami Dolphins.

The Falcons now hold all the cards for the 2021 NFL Draft.

The Atlanta Falcons more than likely were not going to take a quarterback with their first pick in the draft and this trade effectively put the proverbial nail in the coffin.

The first three picks of the 2021 NFL Draft are likely going to be Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, and Justin Fields. The 49ers gave up three firsts in their trade-up and are 100 percent going to take a quarterback – just a couple of years after sending a second-round pick to New England for Jimmy Garoppolo who apparently didn’t materialize fast enough for head coach Kyle Shanahan.

In a way the Falcons are now on the clock and will now have all the non-quarterback to choose from in 2021 – whether that will be Kyle Pitts, Penei Sewell, Micah Parsons, or whoever would make the most sense for the vision that general manager Terry Fontenot has.

Matt Ryan critics are going to be upset the Atlanta Falcons don’t take a quarterback in the first round this year, which would have been a dumb decision anyway.

The national media has not paid attention to the Atlanta Falcons all offseason so why are people going with their reports? Hell, they never pay attention to what the Falcons do, so this should not come as a surprise to anyone. All of the mock drafts that have them taking a quarterback are nonsensical and just show how little anyone is paying attention.

No matter how you have your draft board set, the fourth-best quarterback is not going to be the best available player in any draft, let alone one with Kyle Pitts, Penei Sewell, Micah Parsons, Travis Etienne, Najee Harris, Ja’Marr Chase, or DeVonta Smith.

With as many holes the Atlanta Falcons have to fill in order to get back into playoff contention, taking a quarterback in the first round of the 2021 draft would not be in their best interest. When they do decide to draft their quarterback of the future, it needs to be the right guy in the right setting.

As we have seen with Russell Wilson and Patrick Mahomes, having your offense and defense set before drafting your franchise quarterback sets you up for a better run rather than drafting a guy before you get to that point.

An elite quarterback on his rookie deal as the final piece is a lot better recipe for winning a title rather than drafting one now and having to pay him a king’s ransom as the team is on the verge of something great and then trying to figure out how to pay elite players at other positions.

While the Falcons will draft a quarterback at some point in 2021, it won’t be at pick number four. What they do with that pick will have a lasting impact on the league for the next several years.