2019 NFL Draft Review: Atlanta Falcons

An injury-riddled 2018 season for the Atlanta Falcons left them out of the playoffs. Can this newest draft class get them back on track?

High hopes were placed upon the Atlanta Falcons coming into the 2018 season. Playoff and possible Super Bowl hopes, to be exact. Those hopes were dashed very quickly starting in week one with key injuries, and the injury train carried more Falcons passengers as the season went along.

Coming into this year’s draft, the team needed to improve in the trenches on both sides of the ball. While they made a few tweaks to the defensive line this offseason, protecting quarterback Matt Ryan received most of the attention this offseason including this draft.

Let’s review what turned out to be an interesting draft for the Atlanta Falcons.

R1: Chris Lindstrom, G, Boston College 

R1: Kaleb McGary, OT , Washington 

R4: Kendall Sheffield, CB , Ohio State

R4: John Cominsky, DL , Charleston 

R5: Qadree Ollison, RB , Pittsburgh 

R5: Jordan Miller, CB , Washington 

R6: Marcus Green, WR/RB, Louisiana-Monroe 

As mentioned earlier, upgrading the trenches was key priority and the Falcons made sure of that. With their first round pick at 14 overall, the Falcons decided to buck the trend a little. Instead of going what many perceived to be a likely defensive selection, the team grabbed who many believed was the best interior offensive lineman in the entire 2019 NFL Draft in Chris Lindstrom out of Boston College.

Trading back into the first round at 31st overall, the Falcons added even more muscle to their offensive line with right tackle Kaleb McGary out of the University of Washington.

Were there better offensive line prospects available for the Falcons? Probably so. But one thing this franchise has shown over the years that when they want their type of prospect, they’ll go get them. Regardless of draft placement.

That is what they did with the physical pair of lineman in Lindstrom and McGary. It remains to be seen whether or not the two rookies can help keep Ryan cleaner this season and open up run lanes for what was a below average run game in 2018.

As the team possessed no draft picks in rounds two and three, the Falcons turned their focus to the fourth round, where they made a pair of selections in former Ohio State cornerback Kendall Sheffield and University of Charleston defensive lineman John Cominsky. Both are raw prospects who carry about as much intrigue as questions marks about their overall game.

The Falcons struggled getting after the quarterback last season and the only selection addressing their defensive line was Cominsky. Can the Falcons develop the former quarterback to be a reliable contributor in 2019?

In the later rounds of the draft, the team decided to target another player for their secondary (Miller) and a tough running back who can add some power to the equation (Ollison) as well as a speedy weapon to go along with their skill position talent (Green).

All in all, the Atlanta Falcons had seven selections that undoubtedly were prospects they genuinely coveted.

Questions still remain, however, after this draft.

Will the decision to not address their pass rush early backfire? Can the offensive line rookies elevate the Falcons offensive line? Can Ollison make a difference in the Falcons running game?

The 2019 class for the Falcons was not one full of stars or headline names but it did proved that the Falcons are rolling the dice on upside with this group.