Open Rants by kkunert327

2021 NFL Draft Grades

Atlanta Falcons 

1 (4) - Kyle Pitts TE Florida - A

2 (8) - Richie Grant S UCF - B- 

3 (4) - Jalen Mayfield OL Michigan - B

4 (3) - Darren Hall CB San Diego St - C- 

4 (9) - Drew Dalman C Stanford - D

5 (4) - Ta’Quan Graham DT Texas - C

5 (38) - Adetokunbo Ogundeji DE Notre Dame - B

5 (39) - Avery Williams CB Boise State - C

6 (3) - Frank Darby WR Arizona St - B- 

Overall: C+

- I felt like the Falcons were a tad stuck there with the 4th pick and were sort of “forced” to take Kyle Pitts there. Pitts certainly was the best non-quarterback in this class so it’s not terrible that they took him. However, they needed more help on defense than a luxury weapon like a tight end. They were never going to be able to move down so they just took the no brainer talent here. If they keep Julio Jones this pick could be great with a trio of weapons of Jones, Pitts, and Calvin Ridley for Matt Ryan to work with. However, if they trade Jones I am not sure that Pitts is an apples to apples sort of transition. I am not sure Pitts will ever be as great as Jones despite Pitts being a great athlete in his own right, but that’s just how good Jones has been in his prime. Overall you really could not go wrong selecting Pitts with the 4th pick, but it’s fair to question if a tight end is ever going to be valuable enough to take that high in the draft. 

- The next few picks they did okay filling in their roster. I loved Grant as a safety prospect with his nose at breaking up passes and making a play on the ball. However, a better safety in Trevon Moehrig was still on the board here, which is why I knocked this pick a bit. Either way they needed a safety and Grant should certainly give them a good leader for their secondary. I was not thrilled with the Mayfield pick because they need more help in their secondary and pass rush with their offensive line actually being pretty solid. However, they did have an opening at the left guard spot and they have made a concerted effort to rebuild this offensive line despite this being a new regime. I respect any team willing to overdraft on the offensive line, which is often way too overlooked in this league. Darren Hall was their first corner selection, but they could have done better in my opinion. He fills a need, but I am not sure he will be good enough to break the starting lineup his rookie year. 

- Now my least favorite pick they made was Drew Dalman at center. They had just let Alex Mack go this offseason, but I figured the heir apparent would have been Matt Hennessy who they took last year in the same range. I do love building up offensive lines, but at this point they are doing it while ignoring huge needs at linebacker, pass rusher, and corner here. Graham is a fine nose tackle who could be a nice run stuffer, but they needed more upside in the pass rushing department up front. He can play, but this was another underwhelming pick. Out of their last three selections I really liked the Ogundeji pick as many saw him as an athletic upside pass rusher. They could have gotten a steal here. Same with Darby who many could have seen going higher than this and they certainly needed to build up their receiver depth chart. The Williams pick is another throw away corner selection and I doubt he or Hall make much of an impact. 

- In the end, this was a lackluster first draft for the new Atlanta regime in my opinion. They did not solve their huge corner need nor did they do much in finding help anywhere on defense. Their offense was not the issue last year, but they attacked it in this draft like it was. Their offensive line was solid so I did not get why they doubled down there again this year after loading up on it in the past two drafts. I find the Pitts pick their only solid one that has any true long term potential. Grant was fine, but again they could have done better. Had they drafted better I could have seen them give the Bucs some trouble as their only true competition in the NFC South, but now I am not so sure. This feels like a draft for an organization still unsure if they should rebuild or go all in on the last few years of Matt Ryan.