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Thomas Dimitroff Confirms Falcons Draft Trade Talks In Wednesday Presser

The Falcons' general manager won't say which teams he's spoken with, obviously, but talks are happening.

By Dave Choate
Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

UPDATE:

Thomas Dimitroff took to the podium for his typical pre-draft press conference on Wednesday, and he didn't waste much time getting into matters of great interest to all Falcons fans. I'm not going to waste your time with an intro, so we'll jump right in.

A lot to unpack here, most of it not actually new. The fact that the Falcons are actively engaged in talks tells you they're looking to see what kind of deal they can get to move out of #6. I still believe they'd be content to stay there if they can't get a favorable deal, but it's entirely possible they believe it won't be the player they want. Many of you will be relieved to see that the team hasn't ruled down a trade out, and that could be part of the conversation with other teams. We'll get to that more in a moment.

If you believe the Falcons are actively engaged in talks with Houston, Dimitroff's declining to talk about the Texans may seem telling. It's worth remembering that he's not coming in to a press conference and listing the teams he's spoken with regardless of who they are, so while it may be meaningful, I wouldn't read too heavily into that one, or anything he said in this press conference. I'm just giving you what I think is a reasonable reading of his comments.

Dimitroff is continuing to talk about trading down as a possibility, and I do believe if everything breaks right, that will be on the table. For me, it's tough to read these comments in conjunction with the reports over the last week and not come away with the impression that the Falcons are actively working on moving up for that right player. Again, this doesn't guarantee that Atlanta will move up to get Jadeveon Clowney, Greg Robinson or any other player, but I don't think he's doing anything to dispel the notion that they're working on achieving that outcome.

This is why I believe the Falcons won't overpay to move up, even if I do think a trade is in the works. One of those three tackles is going to fall to #6, and if the Falcons legitimately like all three—yes, even Lewan—then they can afford to play hardball in negotiations.

Considering there's been plenty of grumbling from front office personnel as well as fans, this is a different take. No reason to doubt it, however, given what the Falcons have been up to in the last week or so.

Damn right. Regardless of whether the Falcons move up, move down or stay, they have an excellent chance of picking up a quality player in the first round.

Oh, and lest you forget how little we learned today:

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