2020 NFL Draft: Atlanta Falcons looking to move up in first round

The Atlanta Falcons are looking to move up to trade up in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, and other teams are preparing for them to do as such.

A report came out earlier this week about three teams that have been trying to move up from the middle of the first round of next week’s 2020 NFL Draft, one of those teams were the Atlanta Falcons.

Atlanta is currently the owners of the 16th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and there is more word about their desire to move up in the draft. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network Media reports that they are poised to make a move. Other NFL teams are also projecting that the Falcons are making a move to trade up in the draft and teams are making their preparations.

Atlanta’s history says that other teams in the NFL will be shortsighted if they did not expect the Falcons to make a move to trade up in the draft or trade back into the first round in the draft.

General Manager Thomas Dimitroff traded to get back into the first round of his first-ever draft as the General Manager of the Falcons in 2008. Dimitroff traded back into the first round to get Sam Young after taking their future franchise quarterback in Matt Ryan at the top of the round. Dimitroff did something very similar to that in last year’s draft to select Kaleb McGary after selecting guard Chris Lindstrom with the Falcons original pick.

A few other names that Dimitroff traded up to get in past drafts. The biggest name was wide receiver Julio Jones, long time cornerback Desmond Trufant, and defensive end Takk McKinley.