Clemson DE Myles Murphy will be Falcons first-round pick if available

The Atlanta Falcons, for a second-consecutive year, will have the eighth overall pick in April’s draft. There are a lot of directions the team could go with their top-ten pick. Quarterback, cornerback, and defensive tackle all seem like a possibility but there is one player at another position that makes too much sense for Atlanta.

Myles Murphy, a defensive end out of Clemson, will be the Falcons’ pick if he is available when the team is on the clock. He is the exact player they are looking for at a position that they need a massive amount of help at.

Clemson DE Myles Murphy makes too much sense for the Falcons

The Atlanta Falcons’ pass rush has been ridiculously bad over the past few years. Their last player with double-digit sacks in a season was, ironically, another former Clemson pass rusher, Vic Beasley. The coaching staff and front office know they need to find a few pass rushers this offseason and Myles Murphy is the player they are looking for.

The Falcons hired Terry Fontenot two years ago as their general manager. Previously, he was in the Saints’ front office. And recently they hired Saints coach Ryan Nielsen to be their defensive coordinator. Those two guys will have a huge say in who the team ends up drafting.

Must Read: Grading the Atlanta Falcons defensive positions in 2022.

The Saints’ previous two defensive first-round picks were both defensive ends with a very similar athletic profile as Murphy.

Nielsen and Fontenot were both in New Orleans when they drafted Marcus Davenport in 2018. Davenport is a six-foot-six, 265-pound defensive end. Then in 2021, the Saints selected Payton Turner who is a six-foot-six, 270-pound defensive end (Fontenot was already in Atlanta by this time but Nielsen ended up being Turner’s positional coach).

So, you have two defensive ends who are six-foot-six and about 270 pounds, which is eerily similar to Myles Murphy who is listed at six-foot-five and 275 pounds.

Davenport has had his moments during his young career but has failed to be what the Saints were hoping him to be and Turner has three sacks in two years, not anything to write home about. The good news is that Murphy is the best prospect out of the three of them and has legit potential to be a force in the NFL with his “freakish” athleticism.