The Falcons made frequent appearances in rumors about trading up for the first overall pick during the weeks before the draft, but they wound up staying put at No. 6 when Thursday night finally rolled around.
That didn’t end their night, though. General Manager Thomas Dimitroff said that the team worked the phones in an effort to move back into the first round to add more help to their team. Defense was the target, with players like Dee Ford (who went 23rd to the Chiefs) and Ryan Shazier (15th to the Steelers) thought to be on their list of targets after taking tackle Jake Matthews in the first round.
“We worked hard at it, and you have to have a dance partner,” Dimitroff said, via ESPN.com. “In the end, we didn’t at the spots that we were interested.”
The Falcons have the fifth pick in the second round and their attempt to move back into the first round could signal the choice of a defensive player when they are back on the board. BYU’s Kyle Van Noy, Missouri’s Kony Ealy and Boise State’s Demarcus Lawrence are some of the top possibilities off the edge in the second round.