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The Falcons need a bolstered pass rush and are turning their thoughts lovingly to a stud tackle for the future. The latest mock from Mocking The Draft's Matthew Fairburn addresses both of those needs in the first two rounds. Let's take a closer look.
2. TRADE Atlanta Falcons (via St. Louis Rams) - Jadeveon Clowney, DE, South Carolina
After he dominated the 2014 NFL Scouting Combine, it's tough to imagine Jadeveon Clowney falling out of the top three picks in the draft. The Rams are an obvious candidate to trade this pick, and there should be plenty of teams willing to move up ahead of the Jaguars to land the most talented player in this class. In this scenario, Falcons general manager Thomas Dimtroff uses his relationship with Rams general manager Les Snead to move up from the No. 6 pick and get the impact pass rusher Atlanta needs.
The draft Clowney movement has gone deep underground, but my beret and chain-smoking from the hills of Clowntown tell you we're not quite dead yet. If Thomas Dimitroff and Scott Pioli could work some draft day wizardry and not surrender a second round pick to move up and go get Jadeveon Clowney, it's still a possibility, albeit one that is perhaps less likely than it was a month ago. The Falcons remain deeply interested in Clowney—see Jeff Schultz's latest for some veiled comments to that effect—but they're not boxed in to going and getting him.
In the second round, Fairburn decided to slap down my assertion that the Falcons won't draft a tackle in the second by pegging the Falcons with a strong choice:
37. Atlanta Falcons - Jack Mewhort, OT, Ohio State
Offensive tackle is just about as big of an issue for the Falcons as defensive end is. Jack Mewhort gets pushed down the board because of the strength of this class.
I would absolutely not argue with this pick if the Falcons desired a tackle. Mewhort is big, strong and fundamentally sound, with the ability to lock down one of the tackle spots for quite a long while if he's developed properly.
What do you think of this mock?