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2017 NFL mock draft: Atlanta lands an offensive line solution in SB Nation’s latest

The big man from Alabama could be the team’s solution to its guard woes.

NCAA Football: Alabama at Auburn RVR Photos-USA TODAY Sports

Dan Kadar at Mocking The Draft routinely puts together one of the better mocks around, and you rarely catch him giving the Falcons players that wouldn’t be useful to the team. That’s why his latest effort, which features a name I haven’t seen widely linked to Atlanta, is an interesting one.

31. Atlanta Falcons: Cam Robinson, OT, Alabama

Robinson’s talent, especially as a run blocker, is too great to let slide out of the first round. In Atlanta, he can push for a starting guard spot and potentially put some pressure on the team’s offensive tackles.

Robinson is a little bit of a divisive player in draft circles, with some team personnel, scouts, and draft analysts seeing him as a tackle, and others as a more natural guard. Kadar rightfully is making this pick with the idea that Robinson would be a guard in Atlanta’s system, given that Ryan Schraeder and Jake Matthews are the obvious bookends for the Falcons. Robinson, like Chris Chester before him, has terrific run-blocking chops, but he’s also a hell of a lot younger, has more upside in pass protection than Chester, and is a potential long-term building block. I’d probably prefer Western Kentucky’s Forrest Lamp or Pittsburgh’s Dorian Johnson, but while Robinson may not think he’s a guard, I think he’d slot in pretty well at the position here. His feet are quick enough to make it work in the current system.

What do you think of this pick?