The Atlanta Falcons are “open to move” from the No. 4 pick in this month’s NFL draft, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter, as the first three picks appear to be locked in the draft.
Quarterbacks are expected to be taken with the first three selections.
It is widely expected that Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence will be taken at No. 1 by the Jacksonville Jaguars, while the New York Jets have indicated that they will draft a quarterback at No. 2 when they traded Sam Darnold to the Carolina Panthers on Monday. The San Francisco 49ers, meanwhile, traded from No. 12 to No. 3 and have stated that they did this with the intention of drafting a quarterback.
Terry Fontenot, Falcons general manager, said in February that he believes the number 4 spot is “an excellent place to be”.
“There are so many different scenarios,” Fontenot said at a press conference at the time. “There will be some really good players there on number 4. We can go up, and we can go down and get more tips.
“There are just a lot of different scenarios to really go through.”
In February, Fontenot said the Falcons are always in talks with teams, but whatever he does, there will be “good value”.
One such scenario could be a quarterback – of whoever is left on the board after the first three selections. The Falcons could also watch an offensive playmaker at Kyle Pitts in Florida or the best lineman in the draft at Penei Sewell, Oregon. Their reception room is less likely to overflow with LSU’s Ja’Marr Chase or Alabama’s Jaylen Waddle or DeVonta Smith.
As many as five quarterbacks are expected to be selected in the first round this year: Lawrence, BYU’s Zach Wilson, Alabama’s Mac Jones, North Dakota State’s Trey Lance and Ohio State’s Justin Fields.
The Falcons don’t have an immediate need for a quarterback with Matt Ryan at the helm, although he will be 36 when the 2021 season kicks off. One decision Atlanta has already made is to restructure Ryan’s contract, which will turn $ 21 million of his base salary from this year into a signing bonus spread over three seasons, raising his 2022 salary cap to $ 48,662,500.
Of course, almost every team at this time of year listens to phone calls about potential transactions – some serious, some not – as teams try to determine the best possible outcome for their franchise.
“It’s not somewhere we want to be with this team very often,” said Fontenot. “But we are going to benefit from that and be open to all possibilities.”