Well, it is officially draft day. A second Christmas for NFL Teams and fans everywhere, today is the start of the 2022 NFL Draft. While draft eligible players, teams, and fans wait for the festivities to begin, every general manager of all thirty-two NFL teams are probably still finalizing their draft boards playing out different scenarios that could play out once the draft begins. As we all know the Atlanta Falcons have the eighth overall pick, and Falcons General Manager Terry Fontenot of course has not ruled out any possibility for the Atlanta Falcons, but with this being a draft with no without a doubt franchise changing players at the top of the draft, and the Atlanta Falcons having a roster filled with holes and needs everywhere, is it best for the Falcons to trade back and pile up draft picks, and maybe even get a second first round pick? Jon Chuckery talked about that Wednesday night on his show with Audacy NFL Audacy Insider and host of the Ross Tucker Football Podcast, Ross Tucker, and they both agree that trading back is the Falcons best bet for this year’s draft.
The 2022 NFL Draft is a sneaky deep draft, but doesn’t really have any automatic franchise changing players in it, and with that being the case this is a great opportunity for the Atlanta Falcons to trade back in the draft, acquire more draft picks, and maybe even get another late first round pick. As mentioned earlier, Ross Tucker joined The Jon Chuckey Show Wednesday day night, and he believes trading out of the eighth overall pick is the way to go for the Atlanta Falcons saying “I think I would try to trade down. I mean if they can trade down and get more picks, because where can they not get somebody? I mean they could use a couple of d-lineman, they could use a couple of receivers, they could clearly use a quarterback, I feel like if you can trade down from eight into the teens, and maybe get another late first round pick, I know they have a couple of twos and have a couple of threes, but they really really need to stockpile picks. They got a long way to go, I mean it’s going to be an uphill battle for Fontenot and Arthur Smith.” Jon seemed to share those same sentiments during the final full segment of his show in his “Rank Em” segment where I asked him to rank four Falcons draft scenarios from best to worst, and he ranked the options as follows:
1.) Trading back and getting an extra first round pick in this 2022 NFL draft
2.) Drafting Kayvon Thibodeaux with the eighth overall pick
3.) Drafting Jermaine Johnson with the eighth overall pick
4.) Drafting Jordan Davis with the eighth overall pick
As a team with many holes, picking in a draft with a lot of solid players but no true franchise changing players, it seems that the Falcons would be best suited acquiring all the draft picks they can, so they can fill out their roster with good and cheap talent to improve their team and make the Atlanta Falcons competitive again sooner rather than later. Also, more draft picks means more room for error, meaning the more draft picks they have the better chance they have at getting more draft picks right, and getting a lot of good players. Time will tell what the Falcons will do in the 2022 NFL Draft and it is almost that time as the 2022 NFL Draft is officially less than 24 hours away.