The Atlanta Falcons badly need help in the secondary, and one of the names Ian Cunningham should prepare to get acquainted with is Indiana DB D'Angelo Ponds. Ponds shined throughout the Hoosiers' College Football Playoff run and even garnered first-round draft buzz until the combine came around.
The All-American cornerback had a golden opportunity to cement his status as a Day 1 lock in April, but instead, his draft stock took a major step in the wrong direction before he even took the field in Indianapolis. And that's all because of his measurements that came in, which were quite alarming.
Ponds came in at just 5-foot-8 and a half and 182 pounds, which is wildly undersized, but it gets worse. His 29 3/8" arms and 72 1/4" wingspan are well below league average, so these measurements could see him fall out of the first two rounds and come off of many teams' draft boards, Atlanta's included.
The Falcons could land D'Angelo Pands at better value, but are better suited steering clear of him
The issue is that despite these measurements, Ponds is an incredibly talented player who deserves to be selected within the top 64 picks. We saw him emerge as one of the best-playmaking corners in the nation. After all, he logged 11 passes defensed against some of the best wideouts in the country.
Size or no size, the talent is there, so maybe the Dirty Birds only consider him at a significantly lower price, but drafting him at pick 48 is a mistake. Ponds' measurables suggest he is best suited for a slot or nickel corner role in the NFL, but the Falcons Billy Bowman Jr. filling that spot once he returns.
Bowman was solid in limited action as a rookie, but there's still a chance that Atlanta is able to retain Dee Alford in free agency this offseason, even if it isn't super likely. That's two players who are primarily nickel corners, even if Alford was decent as an outside corner at points at 2025.
Bowman was drafted to man the nickel, so unless Jeff Ulbrich plans to either move the Oklahoma product to the outside (which also seems unlikely), the abnormally-small Ponds will have to play on the outside. And I'm not sure he would be better than Mike Hughes opposite Terrell against NFL WRs.
If the Falcons are looking at the secondary on Day 2, Colton Hood and Keith Abney make more sense and someone else can roll the dice on a guy like Ponds.