The Falcons made a very bold move to trade up back into the first round to draft DE James Pearce, who is a solid young player, but it also cost them their first round pick this upcoming draft. The Los Angeles Rams now own that pick despite them being a playoff team this season.
With Atlanta looking to be a new team atleast from a coaching and front office perspective, they are taking on a situation where they right now don’t have the luxury of getting one of the top prospects coming out of college. While Atlanta wouldn’t have been the first team from the division to pick, not having that first rounder hurts.
In addition to them not having the chance to pick in the first round as of right now, they could very well see the New Orleans Saints who could very be on the come up in 2026 pick an elite prospect at No. 9 overall.
Latest NFL mock draft has Falcons fans seeing a star falling to New Orleans (and they should be worried)
Tarringo Basile-Vaughan from NFL Mocks put together a recent mock draft and at No. 8 overall, Basile-Vaughan has the Saints somehow getting Miami DL Rueben Bain Jr.
"There is some concerns about his below-average arm length which is the reason he slides just a little in this draft, which is great for the Saints because they get their Cameron Jordan replacement."Tarringo Basile-Vaughan, NFL Mocks
Going from Cameron Jordan to someone like Bain Jr. would be an amazing transition for the Saints, it sets up the Falcons to potentially have to gameplan for another game-wrecker for the future.
Bain is going to be a great player in the NFL no matter where he goes. He’s coming off a 9.5 sack season that includes 54 total tackles. Over the span of his college career, he racked up 20.5 sacks. The last thing the Falcons need is someone like that chasing down Penix or whoever is at quarterback for the Falcons.