Atlanta Falcons Draft Stock Improve With Patriots, Saints Loss
By Deke Lloyd
Over the weekend, the New Orleans Saints and New England Patriots were bounced from the NFL Playoffs after both lost at home as favorites. Not only can Falcons’ fans bask in the glory of the losses, the team’s draft stock improved with both of the losses!
When the Falcons season was officially lost, the team traded Mo Sanu to the New England Patriots for a second-round pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. At the time, it was a pretty good deal that both teams projected to be positive for both teams. The Patriots got a reliable, veteran receiver for Tom Brady for the rest of the season and postseason. The Falcons got an extra draft pick that projected to be at the very end of the second round, considering the Patriots were running riot through the NFL in the first eight weeks and looked on the way to another deep postseason run.
After the trade, the Patriots season started to unravel. After starting the season 10-1, the Pats finished with a fizzle at 12-4. A loss on the last Sunday of the regular season to the Miami Dolphins dropped the Patriots to the third seed, matching them up with the Tennessee Titans in the Wild Card round of the playoffs.
On Saturday night, the Titans did the unthinkable by going into Foxborough to beat the New England Patriots in the Wild Card round of the playoffs. By beating the Patriots, the Titans confirmed the Falcons pick would be at 56. A pick that was thought to be at the very end of the second round suddenly improved with the Patriots loss on Sunday.
The only thing that could be better than watching the Patriots lose at home in the playoffs would be watching the New Orleans Saints losing at home in the playoffs. Well, that’s exactly what happened. The Minnesota Vikings went into New Orleans as a huge underdog and beat the Saints in OT. Kirk Cousins doomed the Saints for a third consecutive flame-out in the playoffs with a touchdown to Kyle Rudolph.
As if it couldn’t get any better, with the Saints losing, the Falcons draft pick improved from 56 to 55! This was just the cap on top of a gloriously petty weekend to the Falcons fan. The Falcons season is over. The Falcons are retaining Dan Quinn. We, as Falcons fans, needed this past weekend. Let’s bask in the all.