Grading four potential draft day Atlanta Falcons trades

Scenario #2: Trade with Houston Texans

Of the four trade scenarios suggested by Mr. Rhim, this one would be a massive reach for the Falcons front office. Even more egregious is that Atlanta would be overpaying for any player and risking the short-term success that could happen (but not likely barring something completely out of left field).

For starters, the Texans have two picks in the top 15 of the first round, so right off the bat. why would Atlanta even try to trade up to the third spot? That pick is almost assuredly the Texans’ unless a team does what San Francisco did last year and trade three firsts to Miami for Trey Lance.

In this trade scenario, Mr. Rhim does mention Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder, but unless Pittsburgh or New Orleans doesn’t reach for him in the first round, most likely he’s available at 43rd overall and the Falcons can snag him at a much more reasonable price with his ceiling.

Instead, Rhim looks more at a Ridder teammate: cornerback Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner, whose stock in this draft has only gone up since last season and further solidified at the NFL Combine back in March. As he states:

"“The Falcons move up ahead of the Jets to select Gardner and put together what will be one of the best cornerback duos in the NFL in Gardner and A.J. Terrell”"

Much like the last mock draft which saw Kyle Hamilton fall to the Falcons at 8 despite a month ago that being a practical impossibility, there’s always a chance that the Jets, Giants (twice) and Panthers choose to opt-out of wanting the “Sauce”.

However, for the Falcons to parlay up the eighth pick, the 82nd overall pick given in the Matt Ryan trade, and a third-round pick in 2023 would be outrageously overvalued.

If anything, the Texans should do the optimal thing here and slam the door in Fontenot’s face if he offered this, because it’s a terrible offer for the Falcons to make.

Verdict: Falcons overpay for this, lose astronomically in chances of success