Coming off a disappointing 8-9 season, the Atlanta Falcons have a lot of pressure heading into this weekend’s NFL Draft. Their salary cap situation prevented the team from filling several holes on the roster and the draft gives them the chance to acquire some new talent to help out starting quarterback Michael Penix Jr.
But while the Falcons may be targeting an edge rusher or anybody else that could fix their defense, their needs aren’t as simple as selecting a player. Atlanta has just five picks in this year’s draft and are likely candidates to trade down from the 15th overall selection on Thursday night.
With that, any word of a team trying to trade up should be music to general manager Terry Fontenot’s ears and they may have found their partner with a report on Monday morning.
Falcons Should Capitalize on Broncos Attempt to Move Up in NFL Draft
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, there is a lack of teams looking to move up in this year’s draft. Schefter pinned the development on the lack of blue-chip quarterbacks outside of Miami’s Cam Ward and it leaves more teams like the Falcons looking to trade down and accumulate draft capital entering Thursday night. But while that doesn’t sound promising, Schefter identified the Denver Broncos as a team looking to move up from the 20th overall pick.
“There has been, however, a lack of teams willing to trade up – at least so far,” Schefter said. “Denver is one of those: The Broncos have made inquiries about moving up in Round 1, according to sources. But there aren’t many others. This always could change when players start falling and teams are on the clock.”
There’s also something to be said about the current lack of teams willing to trade up. While there aren’t a lot of candidates to make a move at the beginning of the week, Denver general manager George Paton hinted that those talks usually pick up the week of the draft before culminating on draft day.
“We’ve made calls – this week you make a lot of calls and then next week [are] the more serious calls. ‘Hey, if this player is here, we want to move up,’ or what have you,” Paton said during his pre-draft press conference. “I’ve talked to most [general managers] in the NFL to set the table or set the plan of ‘Hey, if your player is here and you move up, what’s the range?’ You start talking parameters. It gets more serious next week and then really draft day.”
What's interesting to me about the report of the Broncos making inquiries about moving up is something George Paton said last week... pic.twitter.com/T2ZZcFnzVk
— Sayre Bedinger (@SayreBedinger) April 21, 2025
This puts the Falcons in a good position to cash in. Atlanta lit its draft capital on fire in ill-fated trades for Van Jefferson, Kentavius Street and Matthew Judon over the past few seasons and lost its fifth-round selection in a tampering investigation involving Kirk Cousins last offseason. The Falcons also have several needs that went unaddressed in free agency as they look to trade Cousins and his four-year, $180 million contract.
So far, the Falcons haven’t found a team willing to bite and they could run into the same problem when looking to trade down in Thursday’s draft. If the Broncos are willing, Atlanta should listen.