Falcons 7-round mock draft: Fixing the Falcons with five picks

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Hello, Falco, Hawlicks. What is up? Welcome to another

episode of the Dirty Birds of Bruce podcast, presented by

Fay and Duel. I'm your host, Kevin Knight at Falco,

Kevin. We are just a hair over a week away from the 2026 NFL

draft, where of course the Falcons have five picks, not

not picking until 48, you know, so maybe a little bit quieter

night one than we're used to, but five picks in this draft,

probably we'll have more by the end of the night. But I've

got a couple more mock drafts I'm going to do for you guys.

And then we'll of course have some more live mock drafts for

you on Falco, Hawlick Live on Wednesdays. But today we're

going to be doing one final standard draft. That means we're

going to stick with our picks. We're not going to make any

trades just to give you an idea of what a sort of standard

five pick draft for the Falcons would look like this is a

tougher draft to do. Obviously, you only got five picks, you

can't hit everything that you want. And the Falcons

technically already traded down, quote unquote, with some of

their picks to acquire Sydney Brown. So at this stage, it's

a tough, it's tough to pull it. And obviously, we just had

Caleb McGarry retire surprisingly last week. And you know,

that the tackle need is obviously huge at this point. The

team did get you on Taylor in here to kind of take over the

job. But we all know Joe on Taylor, he's he's a reliable pass

protector, but he can't run block it. That's very much a stop

gap move for this team. And the long term tackle need is very

important. So reworked this mock a little bit after we got the

McGarry news. But getting it to you now, this will be the pen

ultimate addition of the mock draft. And I'll have one more

for you guys coming out. During the draft itself, it will

probably be Thursday morning to give you the most suspense as

we take a look at a full with trades, sort of my best

predictive guess at what the Falcons will be doing in this

draft. But for this is also going to be predictive, you know,

but this is my prediction if they do not make any trades, which

you know, that hasn't actually happened recently, the

Falcons made trades in almost every drafts. To some extent,

it's almost always been trading up with Terry Fontano with the

and Cunningham, we'll see if that changes. But we're going to get

into it today, make these picks and see what we can do with the

needs that are still on the board after Fragency, after the

precarious retirement, all that stuff. And take this a little

bit of a different direction to just because I know we've had

people asking about some other positions and some other

players. And that's part of the point of these mocks, right, is

to expose you guys to as many prospects as we can and have a

good base of guys to work from in this draft class. So we are

going to dive right into this draft in just a second real

quick, want to bring you guys a quick word from our sponsor's

Fade Duel. And I know it's exciting stuff. The Atlanta

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the Hawks. I know it's a little bit dicey early, but the Hawks

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give the Hawks a shout out, congrats to not in all the Hawks

fans for making the playoffs. It's exciting stuff. At least

somebody's making the playoffs around here, geez. But let's

continue on with the box draft here, starting with round two

pick 48. So this is the Falcons first pick. I can't imagine that

they will trade up, you know, we're not doing trades in this

mock, but I really don't think a trade up is on the table.

Unless it's like small, like there is someone that that falls

that they're just absolutely in love with, like maybe a tackle,

right? Like Max, I had a core from Arizona State. He does slip

into the early 40s or 45 or something. And Falcons can get up

there for like, you know, a relatively inexpensive pick,

probably planning to trade down later from the third round or

something like that to recoup it anyway. You know, so that

that could be a fringe option. But mostly I think they're either

going to stick and pick here at 48 or trade down. This is

obviously their most valuable picks. This is where you get the

most return for a trade down. But, you know, depends on who's

going to be available here. But in this mock scenario, we do

have a good corner fall. This is a guy I've been eyeing for a

while. Sometimes he's here, sometimes he isn't. But a guy that

I think makes a ton of sense for the Falcons. And that is Keith

Abney from Arizona State. You know, you look at the

measurables on Keith Abney. And very similar like measurables

wise to D all for these 510, about 190, you know, played a lot

outside, which was what D all for did in the CFL. But maybe a

future slot corner may be a future outside corner. What we saw

D all for do was he kind of got pigeonholed into playing the

slot in the NFL, because he's not the biggest guy, but ended up

actually being just fine outside and being pretty good in the

slot as well. A true rotational versatile inside outside corner.

And I think that's what the Falcons really could use right now

because of their uncertain future. You know, with D all for

gone, they really do need that sort of flex corner. And I think

Abney could be the perfect fit as a guy that may, may place

a lot eventually, or may play outside. And, you know, with

Billy Bowman's uncertain return and uncertain health, they may

need a slot starter going forward. Or maybe Billy Bowman comes

back in his healthy, then Keith Abney, maybe can be your CB2

outside across from my cues. But, you know, about Abney himself,

I do think he's very good. I think he's a lot of fun to watch.

Also Arizona State, you know, if they don't get Maxi

Hanukkor, I know a lot of people thought the Falcons were there to

see him. I think they were, but maybe they were also there to see

Keith Abney. So, very instinctual, very physical corner.

You know, this is a guy that makes an impact. He's a ballhawk,

not afraid to get in there as a run defender. You know, again,

this is why a lot of people project him in the slot because he's a

very feisty run defender. Just a very, I don't know, I would call

his playstyle ferocious, just press coverage. He goes up against

bigger receivers with no fear. You know, Jordan Tyson is going to

be a first round pick in the strap. That was his teammate. They

went up it. And this is the matchup, right? You can tell that

that was an iron sharpens iron thing. He is totally unafraid to go

up against these big X receivers, despite only being 510. And he

does a good job. Like he's feisty. He doesn't back down really good

and press coverage. You know, and I think he's got good instincts

really smart player. And again, ballhawking and run defending.

So why is he a second or a pick? Why isn't this guy going in the

first round? Well, it's the size, right? You know, 510, 187, not

exactly stellar size. Some teams that'll pigeonhole him into the

slot. I don't think the Falcons care that much about that. I think

they would be okay. Then playing outside at that size because of

how he plays. And he's just sort of an average athlete. I don't

think he's a bad athlete. You know, I think he's just sort of

average. But I think again, when you're really smart, really

instinctual, you've got that fast clicking close, you can get

away with being not the best athlete and be able to keep up with

with stuff a lot better. Ultimately, then the supreme athletes

that don't know what the hell they're doing, right? So, you know,

that average athleticism probably makes him more of a CB2, as

opposed to like an elite, you know, lockdown corner can play

anybody. But I do think he can be a slot as well. You know, I

think he also could play outside and take over for my cues.

And I think you get a guy like Keith Avney, he could be your slot

corner this year until Billy Bowman comes back. And then maybe

you go back to his natural position of outside in 2027 and move

on from my cues to save a lot of cash base or maybe Billy Bowman

the health isn't there. Avney becomes your new slot corner and

Bowman's more of a rotational player until he gets back to full

help. But again, with that, with Avney's versatility there,

you can kind of mix and match as needed, depending on injuries,

depending on the play of some of these guys and really make it

work. And I think that really makes Avney an appealing player

here. He's really great in zone, but he can play zone match.

He could play some man. And I really like that sort of ferocious

attitude in quarters. These guys, these guys get beat. This is a

position that gets beat all the time. You got to be able to get

up. And you got to be able to jaw right back at the receiver.

And I think Avney plays well above his size. And that's really

important in a fill where you're going to be playing a lot of big

receivers. You're not going to be able to hide your small corners

all the time. So I think that he's a great fit here. If the

fuckers do want to go in that corner direction at the top of

this draft class. So moving on to the next pick that's going to be

pick 79. This is a spot where, you know, again, if there was an

offensive tackle that made a lot of sense, this would be a good

spot for that. There really is kind of a goal here because I view

sort of these round three tackles like a Jennings Dunker or like

I'm blanking on the guy from Northwestern, but Caleb Tiernan.

You know, these guys are both good, very good players. I think

they're both guards. Tiernan's just doesn't have the length.

And and and Dunker, I just think his his skill set is just much

better at guard. Not to say they couldn't play tackle, but I think

if you're drafting a tackle before day three, you really don't

want to be drafting someone that's not going to be that prototypical

guy. But I think, you know, at around three, this is a spot if

the Falcons don't get a wide receiver at 48. I think 79 is where

they really need to get one. And it can be dangerous here,

because again, I think these white receivers are going to go

quick. So if you wait till 79, you may have a limited selection,

you may be pigeonholed into drafting someone that you don't you

didn't want to draft this high. But you know, we'll see how it

plays out. But here there is someone that I think the Falcons

would love to draft. And I think makes sense at this part of

the draft. And that's a local boy, why receiver Ted Hurst from

Georgia State. And I think Ted Hurst really helped himself at

the Senior Bowl. This was a guy coming from a lower level of

competition that you really want to to get eyes on against best

like very good corners at the Senior Bowl. This was a good class

there. And he did not disappoint. This was a guy that looked

the part, you could see exactly why he's a day two NFL prospect.

I mean, this is a prototypical Z Z, you know, sort of flanker

style receiver outside bigs big at 6 4206. Got the long speed

442, you know, which at 6 4206, that's very fast. Massive

catch radius to just he is a vertical threat that will demand

safety attention. And he's just too big for for some smaller

corners to be able to match up with that could give him some

power slot potential things like that as well. He also has

really good hands. Just natural down field receiver love the

ball tracking love the hands. I think he's got upside as a

potential red zone threat as well with that size and with those

those quality hands. The thing with Hurst is, you know, didn't

run a big route tree at Georgia State not to say that he can't

run it, but he's going to have to learn it. I actually think his

ability to run routes is really good. I think he can be an

excellent route runner. Just going to need some time. And he

doesn't run block. Not that he can't run block just doesn't.

And again, Georgia State, this was their number one ride receiver.

They're not really wasting his time with having him run block

very much. They're just having him run routes instead, which I

don't blame. Georgia State for doing that. But he's going to need

to be coached up on the run blocking part, which is fine. But

you know, I think the traits are here for an above average wide

receiver to this is a guy. I think that will be an ideal long

term fit across from Drake London London. And, you know, I don't

think anything in this his evaluation for me makes me question

that he can be in a Phil starter. It's really about how much of

a route tree can he learn and how quickly and can he contribute

as a run blocker? Because I think the Falcons again, this this

offense is going to run through the run game as much as they as

much as they can to take the pressure off the offensive, you

know, to take some of the pressure off, you know, the offensive

line to some extent, but also off of these quarterbacks that

they're not sure about. And this passing game, which is still,

you know, lacking weapons. So, you know, I think they'll need to

get her coached up. I don't know how much he'll play right

away. But I do think he is a guy that, you know, 2027, this is

probably your starting wide receiver to. And you're getting

some good things from him. I think this year, too, maybe in a

more limited role. But I do think that her long term is a good

wide receiver to in the NFL. And I'm excited to see what he could

do in this offense. And nice to get a Georgia State boy in the

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Moving on to the fourth round. This is the last of the Falcons

picks before the 200. So this is a critical one as well. This

pick I think is where they're going to take an offensive tackle.

I think this range in the early fourth round early to mid to late

fourth round depending, you know, this is a later fourth round

pick at this point. But, you know, I think if they trade down,

I think if they keep this pick whatever one of the like the

fourth round, this is where you get a tackle. And I think there's

a ton of them. There's so many good ones here, you know, that I

think are they're all developmental. They all have their issues

obviously. We're talking about early day three at this point,

but that this draft class is chock full of them. And we've

drafted a bunch of them. One that we haven't drafted yet in the

fourth round is Demetrius crown over from Texas A&M and folks

this guy is an absolute unit. Demetrius crown over six seven, I

played in the 330 is showed up to the combine at 320, which

actually is you like to see that that he can you can keep the

weight off if he needs to over 35 inch arms, like almost 35 and a

half inch arms, just absolute unit and moves really, really

well, like impressive athletic ability for that size, which when

you hear his story, which is that crown over was a tight end

recruit makes a lot of sense, right? Switched to tackle in 2022.

So very early in his development on the offensive line, started

the last two seasons at right tackle. Very much work in

progress, right? This is a guy that has only played tackle for a

handle like a handful of seasons. But man, these traits are very

tantalizing. And this is this is a guy that has everything

you're looking for, right? Athletic enough to hit hit the landmarks

in zone athletic enough in pass protection. Actually, I would say

pretty good feel for pass protecting at this stage, just

technically, we're way, we're way, way, way, this is a guy that's

probably not going to play, right? This is he's not going to play

this year, but look, he needs a lot of work. Not going to see

the field as a rookie, but these traits on day on day three, you

know, it's hard to pass up. And this is exactly what Bill

Callahan is here to do. We need Bill Callahan to start working

his magic right now on one of these tackles. And I think

Demetrius Crownover, if he's there at this point in the draft,

this is a pick that makes a ton of sense. And I think that

look, you need to get someone in here for Bill Callahan to work

with someone to develop at least into a swing tackle option for

you next year. But you're looking for a diamond in the rough

someone you can unearth potentially to get a tackle option in

here for 2027. Because again, we're not going to be looking to

bring back Johan Taylor. You know, if he plays fine, then then

maybe again, you bring him back for one more year while we're

still working on figuring this out. But if you can find your

tackle in this draft and not have to spend a premium pick

next year on a right tackle, that is something that would be

huge for this team. So I think this fourth round pick, again,

reserve for offensive tackle, in my opinion, and Demetrius Crownover

is one of my favorite picks here. Because again, this is the

exact type of guy that Bill Callahan Covitz. And I think he

would be a fantastic pick up here in the fourth round with a

lot of potential. Moving on, now Falcons have two picks in the

200s here to round out this draft class. And you're looking at

this point for special teamers for guys with specialized

roles. Or guys that, you know, are just in a deep class and have

fallen. So I think here at two 15, this is a spot where I would

love to get a linebacker like Jack Kelly from BYU. And I really

like Jack Kelly. I think he is absolutely a dynamic special

teams player for you. That's probably going to make his his

you know, NFL name on special teams. But I think he's a good

linebacker. And you know, do I think he's necessarily a like

plus starter or just a guy that you want starting a linebacker

all the time? No, but I think he brings a lot to the table that

could make him a very good rotational player. And someone that's

going to have a long NFL career despite being picked in the 200s.

And look, two time team captain who worked his way up from Weber

State to BYU. First team all big 12 this year, big accolade, got

good size, you know, 6 to 240. So he's got some of that bulk to

him. I think his movement skills are pretty good. He's got some

coverage ability where he actually really excels as a blitzer.

He attends sacks in 2025, which is crazy. He is an aggressive

attacking linebacker likes to move forward, likes to burst

through the line of scrimmage. But he's got short arms. So stack

and shed is not really something he's going to be able to do. He

needs kind of a clean lane at getting off of blocks. Again, big

issue. And I think his instincts for for reading plays when he's

playing sort of the microl just kind of average. And I that just

limits his appeal. I think to teams that really want one of these

click and close linebackers that's going to be able to process

immediately and get out there. Now it's not poor instincts. It's

just sort of average, not not that elite instincts you're looking

for from your typical Mike. So I think at the NFL, he might be more

of a weak side linebacker or possibly even like a Sam that you

plan the line of scrimmage. Sometimes someone that's going to

blitz a lot, you know, again, the short arms make line of scrimmage

job pretty tough. But the Falcons love to blitz their linebackers.

He's someone that would be an absolute demon doing that for them,

even if it's as more of a rotational role, perhaps a third down

role, as it designated, you know, sort of a pass rusher as a guy

who can cover a little bit. And you kind of protect him some

from the pulling guards and stuff that that kind of eat his lunch

sometimes. But I think this is a guy that's going to be an awesome

special teams player for you. It's going to have a long NFL career

as a rotational linebacker to maybe can't ever be a starter for you.

But again, we're talking about pick 215, you know, this is a guy

that can be on your roster and be a contributor for you. And I

think definitely still upgrades the Falcons linebacker depth, even

if he's not necessarily taking a starting job. And I think that's

good value for you here in the sixth round. And then final pick

here. This is a spot that I usually reserve for like a return

specialist or maybe a slot like a specialized slot receiver or

blocking tight. And we're going to go a little bit of a different

direction here to get a guy that I actually think is really good.

But it's kind of invisible in this draft class. And that's

Rasoul Faison from South Carolina. And kind of an interesting

running back prospect has played a ton of college football,

dominated Utah State where you had, you know, averaged like

over six yards of carry, eventually wound up in South Carolina

where he was in a time share only had 470 rushing yards last

year, although he averaged almost five yards of carry, which is

nice. But that doesn't really tell the story for him. I think his

tape is really good. He's he's big physical. He's got really

good vision. He's patient runner. I think his agility and

footwork are both very good for his size. He catches the ball, he

can pass block like this is a guy that can be a three down running

back. Is he going to be an elite three down running back? It's

going to dominate. No, no, but I think this is a do it all RB

two. That is in the seventh round because he's 26 years old, right?

He's probably one of the oldest oldest players in this draft

class. You know, teams are allergic to drafting older running

backs because they're like, this guy's not going to get a second

contract. Well, guess what? Falcons aren't given a second

contract to anyone not named be Jean Robinson in this

running back room. So who cares if he's 26? He's going to be here

for his rookie contract. Hopefully, going to allow you to have a

very affordable RB two for years to come. And by the time he

turns 30, you know, you're you're moving on and perhaps you can

get a small contract somewhere else, but not something that you

really cared too much about it for the Falcons. And the other

thing with him is that he's never played special teams. So, you

know, he's going to have to get on that right away. But again,

this is a much more talented and well rounded running back

than what you typically get, you know, as basically a UDFA. I

think it's worth the pick here to to make sure he ends up in

Atlanta because I'm not sure any UDFA that thinks they have

starting potential is going to sign with the Falcons because

they're got to get past Beige on Robinson and Brian Robinson. That's

going to be a really tough tough ask. But I think you get

whistle. Fies on in here. I think he could actually be a good

RB two for you in time. And again, it's going to be a short

term thing. It's going to be a rookie contract thing. But that's

what the Falcons need. They need an affordable and talented

running back to because we know how important this running game is

going to be. But not something that's that you necessarily need to

get a second contract out of. And I think that gives the Falcons a

unique opportunity to add very talented running back late in

the draft that a lot of teams might just shy away from because of

the age and the special teams. So that is our draft folks. Five

picks for the Falcons tried to get a mix of positions and players

in here that we haven't seen before. And I think this is kind of

what you're going to you're going to see if the Falcons do have to

only make five picks in this class is you're just going to have to

go with what's there. You might not get the ideal positions at

every spot point. You can find talent if you're willing to look

for it and you're willing to kind of bend your needs a little bit

bend your board to make it work. But it may not be the cleanest

thing. It may not be ideal. But that's why I think we're probably

going to see a trade down at least one in this upcoming draft

real quick. We recap these picks for you guys. So the Falcons at

pick 48, the second round with cornerback Keith Abney, the second

from Arizona State, round three picks 79 Falcons with wide

receiver Ted Hurst from Georgia State, round four picked 122

offensive tackled Demetrius Crownover from Texas A&M, round six

picked 215 Falcons, draft linebacker Jack Kelly from BYU, round

seven picked 231 running back with soul by a son from South

Carolina. So what do you guys think about this draft class? What do

you think the Falcons are going to be doing? Do you think they're

going to trade daddy? You think they're going to stick and pick

with these five curious to see your thoughts, send me your

mock drafts in the comments as well. Of course, like it,

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show. And yeah, guys, we'll be back on Wednesday with Falco

Hawk live with Joe Patrick, bringing you maybe another live

mock. I don't know if Joe's down for that, but we'll see if we

can get you some more definitely more hardcore draft talk at

the very least. But we'll be talking about that. And then

trying to line up an A list draft guest for you guys for later

this week. And then of course, we'll be into draft week after

that final mock. We'll have a final live mock on Wednesday and

we'll be live for all three nights at the NFL draft, given

away $50 NFL shop cards during every day as well. So make sure

to join us for that live show. It's always one of my favorite

shows of the year. It's always a lot of fun. We're gonna have

some great guests for you guys as well. And again, thanks to

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today. And we will be back for you guys real soon with more

draft content. We're almost there, guys, draft just a week

away. So until then, thank you so much for watching us here.

I'm Kevin out of Falco Hawk Kevin. We'll see you next time

have a great day folks.