:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/26878577/452694421.0.jpg)
The Atlanta Falcons will select Anthony Barr with the #6 pick in the 2014 NFL Draft...according to Mel Kiper's January mock draft.
Here's what Kiper had to say about Barr's selection:
Analysis: Three years ago the Broncos drafted Von Miller, a move that caused many to ask whether Miller would fit in John Fox's scheme. Fox was known as a 4-3 guy, and Miller seemed well-equipped physically to be a 3-4 outside linebacker. I could hear some saying the same about this pick, but (A) great players make great systems more often than the other way around, so don't get too caught up in the whole 3-4 vs. 4-3 thing, and (B) the Falcons really need a pass-rusher. Barr gives them that, as an explosive matchup problem on the edge who does more than disrupt the passing game. And he can certainly add weight.
Barr is an explosive athlete who has a ton of work to do before becoming an impact pass rusher, mostly due to his lack of moves. You can coach those moves more easily than you can coach athleticism and burst, but I don't think Barr is a day one, impact player for the Falcons, though I do think he'd be an immediately useful player.
The larger issue, of course, is that these mocks are entertaining and help us get a sense for how players are viewed, but they're ultimately about as useful as hooking a milker up to a boulder. Kiper doesn't have any more idea where these guys will end up than you or I do, though I suspect the Jadaveon Clowney-to-Jaguars pick will be prescient unless somebody trades up.
This isn't an outlandish pick, but I think Clowney, Jake Matthews, Greg Robinson and even Khalil Mack rank as likelier choices for the selection. What do you think?
