What if the Falcons retained their NFL draft picks?
Colorado's Jimmy Smith went 27th to Baltimore in the spot originally owned by the Atlanta Falcons. He has top 10 talent and similar measurables to hall of famer Rod Woodson. But his off-the-field issues caused him to drop to 27. (Associated Press)
BIRDLAND – If the Falcons had not made the mega-trade here’s what their draft could have looked like:
–Cornerback Jimmy Smith went 27th to Baltimore. He had too much baggage, but would have been a nice add to a secondary that must defend Tampa Bay’s huge receivers and New Orleans’ Marques Colston. Defensive end Cam Heyward was still on the board, but I was told he wasn’t a scheme fit. Also, Pittsburgh defensive end Jabaal Sheard was available. The Falcons likely would have passed on Smith and selected Notre Dame tight end Kyle Rudolph.
–Wide receiver Greg Little went 59th to Cleveland. He’s a little bit of a Diva. He had nice form when he kicked that ball into the stands at Virginia Tech. He’s a former running back and is a natural running after the catch. He likely would have been a first-round pick if he didn’t get caught up in the Tar Heels’ NCAA scandal. Both Little and Jones are 6-3. Little is nine pounds heavier and much stronger. Little had 27 reps of 225 pounds, while Jones had 17 reps. Jones however is faster, 4.34 to 4.51 in the 40-yard dash and has much better hands.
–Fullback Owen Marecic went 124th to Cleveland. With Ovie Mughelli, the Falcons would not have taken Marecic. They would have selected Taiwan Jones, the
Greg Little could have been an Atlanta Falcon with the 59th pick in the draft. (Associated Press)
running back from Eastern Washington, who went on the next pick, 125th to Oakland.
So instead of Julio Jones, the Falcons would have had Smith, Little and Taiwan Jones. Or Rudolph, Little and Taiwan Jones. So, in the future, those are the players to keep track of. Also, the Browns have the Falcons’ first- and fourth-round picks next season.
Another interesting side note will be to compare the production of Jacquizz Rodgers, the Falcons’ fifth-round pick, and Taiwan Jones.
NFL.com had Jones rated as a 6.5 player and Rodgers as 6.2. Mel Kiper had Rodgers rated as the 12th best running back in the draft and Jones as the 14th best running back.
So now, knowing what the Falcons could have had, do you still like the trade?
–D. Orlando Ledbetter, The Atlanta Falcons beat blog
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100 comments Add your comment
Matt Ryan's Illegitimate Son
May 5th, 2011
4:51 pm
ummmm….Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff has already gone on record with several media members stating that the way the draft unfolded if Falcons would not have been able to move up they would have taken an offensive tackle (rumored to be Gabe Carimi).
This interview was done with Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com – you should already know this D-Led, you are the beatwriter…..
Fedup Falcon
May 5th, 2011
4:55 pm
None of this matters if the greedy folks can’t figure out what to do with all that money they are argueing over.
Fantasy Gifts St Paul | COLLECTIBLES FANTASY
May 5th, 2011
5:00 pm
[...] months of analysis and projections leading up to the April 25-26 NFL draft followed by days of draft recap and team grades, we focus on what really [...]
gcs
May 5th, 2011
5:04 pm
Thank goodness they made the trade! I would have been pretty ticked if they used a #1 pick on Kyle Rudolph – gag.
.
GTBob
May 5th, 2011
5:04 pm
I hope everyone is right and that we will just go out and buy whatever free agents we want to improve our defense. I don’t think it is going to be that simple. Especially with a smaller free agency window this year.
D. Orlando Ledbetter
May 5th, 2011
5:09 pm
waynester — There is not that much difference. Jones is taller, 8 pound lighter and faster than Quizz.
D. Orlando Ledbetter
May 5th, 2011
5:11 pm
Matt Ryan Ill Son — So you believe that they were taking a Big 10 player? I don’t care if he went on 60 minutes, that wasn’t going down.
Tony31005
May 5th, 2011
5:49 pm
Nope. The Falcons could have picked up a better receiver at 27. Instead we got Jones. He’s no where near the caliber of Green. The writers and broadcasters at Alabama all say that he loses focus and drops easy passes. Jones should have gone around 14 or so… Not 6th. I think we blew it however time will tell.
Navigator
May 5th, 2011
5:49 pm
If bull frogs had wings, etc. You never know what you have in the draft for several years, and passing on #1 or #2 top receiver for a bunch of lower picks makes little sense when you don’t have a counter receiver for double teams on your star receiver. It’s obvious the Falcons have no number 2 on their team.
SawThat1nce
May 5th, 2011
6:31 pm
wesley @2:09pm………..I thought that they were called the Dallas Cowthugs.
Steve
May 5th, 2011
6:32 pm
If DOL’s version of how it would have went down is correct, then I have no problem getting Julio.
I wanted the Falcons to get some line help, particularly OL. I could give a squat about DE and DT. the Falcons have almost every decent offensive lineman hitting FA from what I can tell, with the only hold over being Baker. We probably won’t resign Clabo because he might very well be the best OL in the Free agent pool. So we will likely be out one tackle and maybe a bunch more, but at the least the amount of cap money spent on the OL is goign to go way up if we retain these guys .. which makes it that much more difficult to land an impact guy elsewhere.
Point being, you don’t want to have to go hunt for OL’s in free agency. Outside of Julio Jones, every pick DOL mentioned is an absolute waste of space on an NFL roster except Rudolph, and servicable TE’s are typically more readily available in free agency than many other positions. They not be glam guys, but definitely able to play.
Just saying..
May 5th, 2011
6:41 pm
I’m still good with the trade. Really happy we got Rodgers.
Steven A.
May 5th, 2011
6:50 pm
absolutely “IDIOTIC and MORONIC”
Anyone who is against this trade has SIGHT, but no VISION…
Roddy White took a little while to develop as well, didn’t he?
Tim j Dong
May 5th, 2011
6:53 pm
Some of u guys need to grab another cold one & call it a night. The cowboys fan was right on by the way THIS WAS A DUMB & DUMBER DEAL, done out of desperation, probably in an attempt to sell out every home game before the season begins.
Julio Jones does not equal ELITE WR in the NFL – let’s just be honest. He works hard, is a good kid, but will not be a top level receiver in this league – way too many drops, doesn’t sell the route, & is often injured. BAMA’s a tremendous program & he benefitted no doubt from being there. I don’t see how Nick Saban however is all of a sudden a ‘trusted’ voice on this. Of course he’s going to talk up Julio. The higher his players go in the draft, the easier it is for him to bring in new recruits promising them to be the next #6 pick – so that just does not fly.
Did we give up too much heck yeah! R ledbetter’s picks really the only players we could’ve gotten – NO WAY, there’re numerous other trade possibilities out there to grab a DE or an impact Defensive player (once no one was biting to trade away Peterson or even A.J. Green, that might have made sense as they’re both certain to be dominant in the NFL). Now we’ll have to pay Julio the money w could’ve used to go out in FA & grab some Defensive missing parts – so I’m not sure what we’re going to do now. I can’t see us winning the SOuth this year – we could miss the playoffs for this move. Looks like it was more of a business decision to me though – sellout more games & merchandise to BAMA fans.
Falcon Fan
May 5th, 2011
7:01 pm
I can see the Browns stinkin up the joint next year. Enough to either have the first pick in the draft next year or the ammo to move up to the first pick with our first round pick and select Andrew Luck. Then the trade for Julio Jones will go down in history as the trade that got Cleveland Luck. But anyways I still love the trade and if it doesn’t work out at least the Falcons are trying. That’s more than I can say for our other sports teams in this town. It seems like Atlanta teams are always either trying to make someone a superstar instead of just going and paying for one. Kudos to the Falcons and Arthur Blank. I think we will surprise alot of people in the FA market when Nandi and a top DE and LB come in here to change our defense alot like the Saints super bowl year when they signed Sharper.
Falcon Fan
May 5th, 2011
7:04 pm
Tim Dong–No one is CERTAIN to be dominant in the NFL. Jones vs Green will go on for years……let’s see how it plays out before we give Green the crown.
Sid
May 5th, 2011
7:22 pm
Damn gutsy move……………period. The more I think about our offense last year it wasn’t so much teams stopping us as it was us stopping ourselves…………that won’t be the case so much now.
honest_abe
May 5th, 2011
7:31 pm
besides the matt ryan draft, dimitroff has been average at best.
there isn’t a word in the english dictionary to describe how awful this move was. you don’t fix a million leaks by getting one player. a wide receiver at that.
Clueless
May 5th, 2011
7:37 pm
Bedwetter I mean Ledbetter we would have never drafted J. Smith. If we had the picks how about 1. DE Bowers 2. WR Cobb out of Kentucky 3. Sam Acho DE/LB. This would have covered needs. I believe I could out draft Dimitrof blindfolded.
honest_abe
May 5th, 2011
7:52 pm
carimi, little and then you trade 4th rounder to move up to get houston and then rodgers in 5th. now thats a nice draft.
wdwj
May 5th, 2011
7:52 pm
If = bull crap!
If has never won a game…….
If is something that never happens…
If we don;t play the season I’ll be sick,,,,,,,,,,,,
wdwj
May 5th, 2011
7:55 pm
I Love the Trade..go Falcons.
honest_abe
May 5th, 2011
8:13 pm
most football fans that were fans long before the “glory” days. guys who follow football 365 days of the year don’t like the trade. bandwagon fans who don’t know the history of this team and don’t know football think its the most ingenious move ever. idiots.
David
May 5th, 2011
8:16 pm
I love the trade. Jones will bring another legit No. 1 target onto the field creating huge match-up problems. The Jacquizz Rodgers pick is one of my favorites. His ability to catch the ball is something Atlanta didn’t have before, and no player will work harder than Quizz. As a fifth rounder he is probably the biggest steal after round 2. Look for Ryan to have a “break-out” year.
Mudcat
May 5th, 2011
8:36 pm
You’re assuming you know exactly who TD would have drafted if he had those draft picks, especially the 2nd & 4th rounds. Even TD doesn’t know who he would have picked for sure if those picks were available. The trade was made and as always, we assume that TD and Coach know what our team needs more than anyone else. On that basis and only on that basis, I fully support the trade. Just hope I can afford those Super Bowl tickets!
Tim j Dong
May 5th, 2011
8:38 pm
honest_abe, Tony31005 & Clueless – good points couldn’t agree more. Falcon Fan & wdwj – I know u Roll w/ the Tide, but as some point u need to get serious & look at things more objectively. A fairer comparison would be to look at J. Jones v. Randall Cobb or Greg Little (IF we’re lucky). J. Jones was definitely a mid-to late 1st rounder. In fact, most of the guys taken 6-10 were reaches this year – it was not a good place to be in the draft. The 1-5 guys r can’t miss barring injury.
I DO agree w/ yall on the Rodgers pick – good job on that one Dimitroff. Although, do agree w/ ‘honest_abe’ – apart from the Matt Ryan home run draft, the Dimitroff drafts have been avg. ‘Spoon was nice last year & will be a solid player, but . . . Peria Jerry (practically permanent IR), Jamaal Anderson (TOTAL BUST). Draft is no easy task, but can not afford to go on total emotion & sell the farm as we did this year, for an above avg. player.
home town
May 5th, 2011
9:12 pm
falcon homers all “like the trade.” In reality, it was a bad deal giving up all those picks this year and next for 1 player, who is hurt a lot and is good but not great. The falcons will get beat in round 1 again next year—bank it.
jojo
May 5th, 2011
9:39 pm
WITH JONES AND ROGERS TO GO WITH TURNER,WHITE AND GONZO THE FALCONS WILL BE TOUGH TO DEFEND.
BobDawg
May 5th, 2011
9:53 pm
@DC-5XSBW…. Dude, Jerry Jones screwed Dallas up royally when he helped get Petrino moving on to Ar-kansas Sooey Pig territory… otherwise we don’t get the new staff or Mattty Ice which will haunt you guys for the next 10 years +….. As Falcon Fans we say THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BobDawg
May 5th, 2011
9:57 pm
@DONG…. Bama never had a QB the last few years so they used Julio mainly as a decoy. He is one heckava run blocker also. With 4.39 speed…. My oh My… watch him fly down the field……
Q Fan
May 5th, 2011
10:04 pm
I totally disagreed with the moves we made in the draft but we as fans have to change our thimking .We been at the bottom or up and down so long that we are thinking like we need to improve the whole team . We are now in a position for the first time that we may only need right parts.
yo mama
May 5th, 2011
10:04 pm
hey DC-5xSB Winners, did you see what Julio did to that all world corner at LSU this year. DUDE ate him up. Julio ate up the Dawgs two years ago. The Saints dont realize whats coming down there this year. there is no way they can cover tony, roddy, micheal, and julio. no way. Matty ICE should be throwing 65% of the time, and running it, with ground and pound. but we have to get it up in the air, become unstoppable.
DC’s in Tampa, NO, and Carolina are scared…
Birrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd Man
May 5th, 2011
10:08 pm
Enter your comments here
Hobbler
May 5th, 2011
10:12 pm
I love this trade if we can sign our 2 OL FAs, Grimes, and get a good DE and a good nickelback in Free Agency. Our weak links are Jamaal Anderson and Chris Owens so we need to get these two replaced to win a SB.
Birrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd Man
May 5th, 2011
10:12 pm
It is what it is…an explosive player for 5 picks. I think we’ll be ok if our back-up DE’s develop.
Falcon Fan
May 5th, 2011
10:25 pm
You guys say that Dimitroff has had average drafts after the Ryan draft. So we trade up and get what is considered a stud WR. In all truth, no one knows who will be good and who won’t, so it’s hard to grade the draft. But if we ended up with the next big time WR instead of another draft with average players then I say great draft. I’m willing to bet anything we will have Nandi in FA and a stud DE. Say what you want about Robinson but he like Nandi are excellent man to man CB’s. I think we will change our defensive philosophy. If you want different results then sometimes you have to do things differently instead of the status quo.
scabs
May 5th, 2011
10:32 pm
So when the scabs take the field with the players still asking for more money does it really matter???
Halsey
May 5th, 2011
11:18 pm
I’ll like the trade when Julio Jones is a star WR for numerous seasons. Until them I’m comfortably on the fence.
Najeh Davenpoop
May 5th, 2011
11:46 pm
This is a pretty simplistic way of looking at things. No guarantee whatsoever that the Falcons would have taken those players, or even players at the same position, if they had stayed in those spots. I heard the Falcons were going to take Gabe Carimi if they had stayed at their old spot.
DD795
May 6th, 2011
3:06 am
They need to trade him while they can get something for him.
geno
May 6th, 2011
6:35 am
This move is the mark of an elite team. Get ready for some good times, Atlanta. The Falcons Offense will be very, very. very hard to stop. Great Move!!!
True Falcon Fan
May 6th, 2011
1:11 pm
Oh EYE see DOL, you are the QB of the play ground. That is the play caller of the “WHAT-IF’s” game, if i, coulda, shoulda, woulda that’s the way your “BUDDIES” in Washington do it. But they are political pro’s at it – i mean your Democratic brothers – ComOnman
1stATLfan
May 6th, 2011
3:52 pm
Listening to the post on here got me thinking about how well have we drafted in the 1st round over the years, since most think we gave up too much. Here is what I came up with going back to picks starting at
(2003): 1rd: NONE, 2rd: 55th Byron Scott CB (2004):1rd 8th Deangelo Hall CB, 2rd: NONE (2005): 1rd: 27th Roddie White WR, 2nd: 59th Johnathan Baineaux DT (2006): 1rd: NONE, 2rd: 37th Jimmy Williams CB (2007): 1rd 8th Jamaal Anderson DE, 2rd: 41th Chris Houston CB (2008): 1rd: #3 Matt Ryan QB, 2rd: 33th Curtis Lofton LB (2009): 1rd: 24th Peria Jerry DT, 2rd: 55th William Moore S (2010): 1rd: 19th Sean Weatherspoon, 2rd: NONE (2011): 1rd: 6th Julio Jones WR……
As you can see we have not been all that productive in the first round with normal picks so why not draft someone that you know is an impact player. Tell me what you think.
odogg32f
May 6th, 2011
7:43 pm
Where did you get your info from? All the scouts say Little has the second best hands behind AJ Green.
The U
May 6th, 2011
10:58 pm
Quizz will have the “IT” factor that Reggie Bushness with heart, able to take to the house at that drop of a dime if he can make the active squad.
Holt Moore
May 7th, 2011
9:22 am
The best deal would have been the CB Patterson-who I REALLY think they were after.. Unequivically the best athelete in the draft. I truly wonder what AZ wanted for that pick or Natty wanted for the Green pick. THOSE are the relevant questions. Greg Little might be the next Anquan Boldin..
D man
May 8th, 2011
1:41 pm
I love the trade. I will love the trade even more if they address the CB and DE issue in free agency when it opens up…And keep the O-line together…
Remarkable
May 8th, 2011
1:51 pm
D Led, once again you show why you should not be the Falcon’s key reporter.
Mike
May 8th, 2011
2:15 pm
I definitely liked the trade, but thought we could have given up a little less…I did want to get Kyle Rudolph and would have been happy with that choice if they stayed, but probably could have traded back in the draft for more picks and still got him. Tony is getting old at TE and Rudolph is great split out and has great hands. Next years second round or third round pick may have to be a TE unless they plan on paying another free agent.
Robert Bennett
May 9th, 2011
10:11 am
Except for the fact that we don’t draft players of questionable character. We want winners and leaders, not Diva’s. COME ON D. Led.; you are in the locker room all the time, I think you should re-evaluate your list and give us a different group of players to “Keep track of!”