Atlanta Falcons must trade down from eighth pick in the draft

The Atlanta Falcons currently hold the eighth overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. Needless to say, when you pick in the top ten of the draft, you are not usually a good team, and that can definitely be said about the Falcons.

This will be a draft class that will go on to define Arthur Smith and Terry Fontenot’s careers in Atlanta. They must increase their chances of finding stud players in the draft, and there is only one way to do that.

The Falcons must trade down in the draft for a variety of reasons

Starting off, the Atlanta Falcons have a decent number of picks as they currently sit with eight total draft picks. That is definitely a good start, especially considering that they have four in the top 74 selections.

However, just because they have a decent amount of selections does not mean they should be satisfied yet. Terry Fontenot needs to trade out of the eighth-overall pick in order to maximize their chances at finding high-quality players.

The Falcons, to put it simply, are not one player away from contending, they need starting talent amongst their roster, as well as depth players.

The team could use a couple wide receivers, a running back, a right tackle, a left guard, multiple defensive linemen, another linebacker, another corner, and possibly a safety depending on their evaluation of Jaylinn Hawkins and Richie Grant.

That is a ridiculous amount of holes to fill and while they are bound to fill some of the holes in free agency, they still could use more draft capital.

Picking one player with the eighth overall pick is not going to do nearly as much as trading down and acquiring more picks to be able to fill out the roster.

When you also throw in the potential of the Falcons getting another selection or two by trading Calvin Ridley, this plan could seriously turn around the roster in the next few years.