Ladies and gentlemen, the final Atlanta Falcons mock draft is finally here. In this final mock, I traded the eighth pick for picks 17 and 49 from the Pittsburgh Steelers. I normally don’t trade back, but rumors of the Falcons being willing to for minimal gain made this happen. As always, enjoy the mock, give me feedback, and thanks to RiseNDraft.com for their simulator.
Pick 17: Bijan Robinson RB | Texas
The Falcons trade back and still land one of the most explosive players in the NFL Draft in running back Bijan Robinson from Texas. Bijan is widely considered to be the top running back prospect since Saquon Barkley. His blend of speed, power, and explosiveness would be the perfect addition to Arthur Smith’s offense and the perfect piece to help take pressure off of young quarterback Desmond Ridder.
Pick 44: Cody Mauch IOL | North Dakota State
Senior Bowl standout Cody Mauch is the spiritual descendant of current Broncos offensive lineman Quinn Meinerz who the Falcons chose to pass on for guard Jalen Mayfield. Terry Fontenot and company won’t make that mistake again.
Mauch is an agile, athletic offensive lineman who can hit the second level and cause chaos. He feels like a natural for Arthur Smith’s zone blocking scheme which is in need of a left guard after Elijah Wilkinson left Atlanta in free agency.
Pick 49: Adetomiwa Adebawore DT | Northwestern
When the Falcons signed veteran Calais Campbell, it felt inevitable that they would draft a younger lineman to learn from him and current star Grady Jarrett. I feel like it would be Jalen Carter if he falls, but he didn’t in this mock, so I pivoted to star Northwestern lineman, Adetomiwa Adebawore. A Senior Bowl standout and NFL Combine warrior, he ran a 4.49 forty yard dash at 6’2 289lbs and also hit 27 bench press reps.
Adebawore is a versatile chess piece on the defensive front who is incredibly powerful and has an explosive first step. He’d be a huge asset in Atlanta to with Jarrett and Campbell.
Pick 75: Tyler Scott WR | Cincinnati
A rumor I have been hearing is that Atlanta is very high on the former Bearcats receiver, and it makes sense. Tyler Scott is an explosive receiver who can take the top off of defenses for Atlanta and also has previous experience with Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder from their time at Cincinnati together.
With Ridder, Scott contributed for 520 yards and 5 TD’s on 30 receptions, and only got better this season while in a more featured role for the Bearcats with a statline of 899 yards and 9 TD’s on 54 receptions. And if that type of production doesn’t wow you, did I mention he runs a 4.44 forty and was on Bruce Feldman’s Freak List?
Pick 110: Josh Whyle | Cincinnati
Is it really an Arthur Smith draft if we don’t draft a tight end? Similar to Scott, Whyle has a familiarity with Desmond Ridder from their time at Cincinnati. And Whyle also happened to be on Feldman’s Freak List. But Whyle offers so much offensive weaponry for Arthur Smith to play with. He is athletic enough to be moved around the offense in a variety of roles: H-back, traditional tigh tend, flex him wide, and can play as a F-back.
Whyle has been a candidate to break out for what feels like a long time, but here in Atlanta, Arthur Smith would be able to maximize his unique physical traits to be a key piece of the puzzle.
Pick 113: Jammie Robinson S | Florida State
Florida State safety Jammie Robinson is an absolute steal here and would give the Falcons flexibility to play their best secondary. The Florida State product is a firey player who would bring a swagger to the defense that we have been missing for a long time. He has a nose for being around the ball and could give the Falcons ways to create lots of new and creative packages and looks on the backend.
Jammie was a star at Florida State and even has SEC experience from his time at South Carolina, when he was a Second Team Freshman All American. Furthermore, he’s a Georgia native, which the Falcons front office seems to value heavily.
Pick 224: Stetson Bennett IV QB | Georgia
The Falcons grab Georgia quarterback and National Champion Stetson Bennett IV, Bennett is an athletic quarterback with a below average arm who is an experienced starter and title winner.
He is very reminiscent of current Falcons backup, Taylor Heinicke. Stetson is picked here to sit on the practice squad for a season and then give Atlanta the potential to move on from Heinicke in the future and save some cap space.
Pick 225: McClendon Curtis OT | Chattanooga
I wholeheartedly believe that McClendon Curtis will not actually be available, but he was in the simulator and I couldn’t resist. Curtis is a massive bear of a man weighing in at 6’6, 324lbs and 35″ arms. He is incredibly raw as a player and needs a lot of work to develop into a quality backup, but his frame and position versatility is worth picking here.
If Arthur Smith and Ledford are able to get their hands on Curtis, I feel like they’ll be able to turn him into a quality backup and maybe even get him to a starter level one day.