Things are officially getting interesting in regards to the 2017 NFL draft.

According to a report by Conor Orr at NFL.com, this year’s top tight end prospect, Alabama’s O.J. Howard has a visit scheduled with the Atlanta Falcons:

Top TE prospect O.J. Howard has one more visit lined up before the big night — with Atlanta Falcons. More to come shortly @NFL, @NFL_CFB — Conor Orr (@ConorOrr) April 14, 2017

On some levels this news comes as no surprise. Howard is one of the most highly-touted prospects in this year’s draft class and has been getting plenty of attention from a number of teams around the league. It’s only natural for Atlanta to meet with him.

Then again, if the Falcons are really keen on acquiring Howard, it could offer a clue to their plans on draft day.

Most analysts are currently projecting that Howard will come off the board in the top ten picks. Some even have him ranked among the top five. Unless some unforeseen disaster happens and Howard’s draft stock tanks over the next two weeks, there’s virtually no way in hell he will still be available when Atlanta is on the clock at No. 31.

So, the question is this: does the interest in Howard indicate that the Falcons contemplating a trade up in the first round?

That may sound far-fetched, but remember that general manager Thomas Dimitroff has made a draft-day trade every single year since coming onboard. He’s never been shy about pulling the trigger in order to improve their position and land a talent the team has its eye on. Julio Jones and Desmond Trufant were both acquired after moving up, to name a couple.

Adding Howard to Atlanta’s already-potent offense is an undeniably intriguing idea. The one thing Matt Ryan is missing is a geniune big-bodied red zone threat. Howard’s skillset represents a potentially perfect fit to fill that void.

In four years at Alabama, Howard caught a total of 114 passes for 1,726 yards and seven touchdowns. At 6-foot-6 and 251 pounds, he has the size to outmatch defenders at the pro level and high-point contested catches with ease. Howard is also exceptionally fast for someone his size. He could use some improvement as a blocker but his receiving talents far outweight those negatives.

Watch Howard at work against Texas A&M and you’ll get an idea of what he could do for Atlanta:

He also had a strong showing against Auburn:

So, is this genuine interest on the part of the Falcons, or are they just doing their due diligence?

Time will tell.