Hello Falcons faithful!

This is my 2018 mock draft as of March 24th. We’re about a month away from the draft and we’re all in full swing with anticipating how things are gonna play out for our beloved Dirty Birds. I have great news when I tell you that I believe this draft can and will solve a lot of our problems with the mock I present below. Keep in mind that these picks are strictly based off of my opinions and the beliefs I have for how our team would drastically improve with this class.

I have a feeling this draft will ultimately be very similar to our draft in 2015; we had great value in most of our picks and took care of a lot of needs across the board. Hopefully we can replicate that success again this year as every other contender in the NFC has seemingly gotten better during free agency without even having their own draft classes added in to the equation yet.

Without further ado, I present my humble mock to you all...

1st round / 26th overall

The pick: Maurice Hurst, DL, Michigan

Why:

Take care of the obvious need, which is once again at DL this year. I personally believe Maurice Hurst would be a godsend if he were to fall to us at 26. He can play the Michael Bennett/Adrian Clayborn role of strong-side defensive end and kick inside for our sub packages, thus giving us a line of Takk/Jarrett/Hurst/Beasley on obvious passing downs... just thinking about it gets me excited. The best part? He’s already better than the aforementioned players coming out of college. By that I mean Clayborn and Bennett weren’t as good when they first came into the league; although it might be debatable for Clayborn considering his 1st round status. He fits the criteria we look for in defensive lineman and now that his alleged heart issue has been debunked, I feel fully confident in this pick. He would be a great piece in our rotation and certainly a welcome one considering what we have on the roster as of this second.

2nd round / 58th overall

The pick: Dallas Goedert, TE, South Dakota State

Why:

Tight end, defensive lineman, linebacker and wide receiver are all possibilities here. I believe tight end should be the pick based on the value that will be there for those other positions in the later rounds. If Mike Gesicki’s draft stock didn’t rise up like crazy after his combine that would be my guy here. Instead, the next best receiving tight end, Dallas Goedert, will be a very nice addition here. This will hopefully give Matt Ryan his Gronk/Hernandez duo if he and Hooper can play to their potential. His abilities as a receiver are top notch and he has the size to dominate any and all competition. His question mark is in the blocking department - but I believe that having great receiving skills outweigh those concerns and it’s something that can be developed with experience and some teaching from NFL coaches.

3rd round / 90th overall

The pick: Jalyn Holmes/BJ Hill/Dashawn Hand, DL

Why:

It may be unconventional to not list a single player as the pick here, but I firmly believe that one of these 3 should be the pick here - regardless of which one you might prefer over the others. They’re all at a great value in the 3rd round and we double dip at defensive line as we did in 2015. I really like all of them as fits for our defense that should be available for our last pick in the top 100. Any one of them would be a great 3-tech defensive tackle in our scheme and all of them can penetrate against both the pass and the run. They each have some dominant traits that one would look for when evaluating defensive lineman and their fit in the scheme. Each one could use some more development; with that development I find all of their potential ceilings to be very high considering who they would be learning from in defensive line guru Dan Quinn and Hall of Famer/DL coach Bryant Young. Our defensive line rotation would look much less concerning in my eyes after this pick is made.

4th round / 126th overall

The pick: Keke Coutee, WR, Texas Tech

Why:

This would be a great time to fill depth for either LB or WR if neither are selected in the earlier rounds. If we could find a wide receiver with some playmaking ability that would be my preference as opposed to a linebacker. A receiver like Keke Coutee comes to mind for me. His explosiveness out of the slot would make Gabriel’s loss seem less impactful and gives Matt Ryan another downfield weapon to play with that’s not named Julio. Coutee and Justin Hardy - our 2015 draftee selected in the 4th round that’s also a slot receiver - would be able split snaps out of the slot, which allows our offensive packages and play designs to have some more versatility. We would have a very fast group of young receivers when you include Marvin Hall and Reggie Davis to the mix.

6th round / 200th overall

The pick: Genard Avery, LB, Memphis

Why:

I personally think we should go for whichever position we didn’t go with in the previous round. So if we take a wide receiver - go linebacker or vice versa. In this instance, we’ll say that linebacker is the pick here based on the fact that we already took a WR in the previous round. Genard Avery is a versatile player who would be able to play inside or outside, which is something we need considering our lack of depth at the position currently. He was a team leader at Memphis and would take any leadership role he can possibly have if given the chance. He wouldn’t be fighting for starting snaps over Jones, Campbell and Riley out of the gate, but once again depth with some versatility is the key to this pick. He can also contribute on special teams.

7th round / 244th overall

The pick: Kalen Ballage, RB, Arizona State

Why:

By this point our primary needs have been filled so filling out "possible needs" wouldn’t hurt. I personally would like another developmental safety or a third running back to spell and possibly replace Coleman if he were to leave in FA after this upcoming season. I prefer drafting a running back in this instance and Kalen Ballage would be my pick. He’s a big (6’1, 228 lbs) and athletic (4.46 40 yd dash time) running back who can do a little bit of everything. Allowing him to learn from two of the best running backs in the game will be beneficial to his game and he can possibly rotate in as a situational back as well as provide some quality depth. If Freeman goes out with another concussion I would feel a little more confident knowing we have a good backup to keep Coleman fresh and not use him for 30+ carries a game should that happen.

7th round : 256th overall

The pick: Joshua Kalu, S, Nebraska

Why:

Ahh, we finally have a Mr. Irrelevant pick this year. I’m gonna go with the same method I stated previously in regards to drafting whichever position we didn’t target the round before, meaning that it would be a safety or running back pending on how things play out in the real draft. Since I already said we’ll go with RB in the 6th that leaves us with the option of going for a safety. I like Kalu’s athletic ability and I don’t think he’s done growing as a player yet. The upside is that we would have Ricardo Allen showing him the ropes and how to diagnose plays. With that in mind I think he could have some good backup potential and will fight for special teams snaps to keep a roster spot in order to do just that.

All in all, we would have a very diversified class of players who I believe would fill any remaining holes and add another surge of talent into this team’s DNA. Quinn’s motto of "fast and physical" certainly comes to mind when I look at this group and I would be very excited for the 2018 season if this is how things pan out.

Feel free to give your opinions and feedback in the comment section! All of them are appreciated!