Second round talent that makes sense for the Atlanta Falcons

The Atlanta Falcons are two weeks away from deciding which players to add to their roster from the 2021 NFL Draft. There has been plenty of discussions on what the Atlanta Falcons should do with the fourth overall pick, but what should they do with their second-round pick?

Obviously, the Atlanta Falcons first-round pick will likely decide what they do with their second-round pick. For example, if the Atlanta Falcons decided to draft Penei Sewell, they will likely not take an offensive lineman in the second round.

The Falcons should target defense in the second round. It is no secret their defense has been really bad for a long time. In the past 12 seasons, Atlanta has only had a top ten defense three times in 2010, 2012, and 2017.

Former general manager Thomas Dimitroff was horrible at drafting defensive players – which is the biggest reason that he is no longer here. The only players that were drafted by the team and remain valuable contributors are Grady Jarrett, Foye Oluokun, Deion Jones, and AJ Terrell.

All four of those guys likely would have been great players regardless of what team they went to.

The second round will allow the Atlanta Falcons to improve their defense.

The Atlanta Falcons desperately need to improve their safeties and pass rushers which is what they should target in the second round. If the 2021 season started today, Jacob Tuioti-Mariner and Dante Fowler would be the starting edge rushers. Erik Harris and Jaylinn Hawkins would be the starting safeties.

The Falcons desperately need to improve these two positions in the NFL Draft. Two potential edge rushers that the Atlanta Falcons should take a hard look at are Wake Forrest defensive end Carlos Basham and Texas linebacker Joseph Ossai.

Both have a chance to be late first-round picks and could fall into the Atlanta Falcons lap in the second round. Basham and Ossai would be fantastic edge rushers in Dean Pees’ defense.

At safety, the Atlanta Falcons should look at Jamar Johnson from Indiana or Richie Grant from UCF. Atlanta is thin at safety you could almost plugin anyone and they would be an upgrade over Hawkins and Harris.

Richie Grant would be the ideal safety for the Falcons.

If the Falcons were to trade down in the draft, they could potentially gain an additional second-round pick and draft both safety and a pass rusher.