Mel Kiper Jr. analyzes possible draft picks for Atlanta Falcons

After drafting offense early in the NFL Draft over the past few years, Mel Kiper and Field Yates have the Falcons drafting on the defensive side of the ball in round one this year.

While laying out his own mock draft alongside Kiper, Yates explained why he landed on Alabama’s Dallas Turner for Atlanta with their top-10 pick.

“Time for some defense. Atlanta Falcons, Raheem Morris their new head coach, you always like to make your head coach happy with his first draft pick. They go Dallas Turner, edge rusher from Alabama,” said Yates, then breaking down what Turner provides as a high-upside prospect on a Falcons squad that struggled to get to the quarterback in 2023.

“Incredible athlete, SEC Defensive Player of the Year this past season. 10+ sacks and now their top two edge rushers from last year, Bud Dupree, and I guess you can’t even call Calais Campbell an edge rusher, but he was their tied leading sacker last year with Dupree, had just 6.5 sacks, so you need more pure pass rush in Atlanta at No. 9.”

When Kiper jumped in, he remarked on Atlanta’s need to go defense after hammering away at offensive skill positions for the last few drafts.

“I think when you look at the Atlanta Falcons, I think that sticks out, because you’re getting away from the offense. You’re going for Dallas Turner, the pass rusher, when you went for skill players over the last few years with Bijan Robinson, you know, Kyle Pitts, Drake London, all those guys were brought in to help the offense.”

Kiper also added that with the QB situation such a mess in Atlanta, he might go get Justin Fields if he was the Falcons, pair him with that newer offensive talent, and then go draft defense in the first round.

“Atlanta’s got to figure out the quarterback position. Justin Fields, to me, would make the most sense in some way somehow getting him to the Atlanta Falcons. Then you take the defensive players, you said the edge rusher.”

Over the last couple of seasons, Atlanta has featured a committee of quarterbacks, and most notably Desmond Ridder, who was part of their offensive drafting spree as a third round pick back in 2022, but just hasn’t shown enough through two years to justify building your franchise around him. Then there’s Taylor Heinecke, who’s a fine placeholder, but again, not someone to build around.

Mel Kiper and Field Yates predict an overhaul at QB plus a premium pass rusher at pick No. 9 for the Falcons.