Will the Falcons move up in the 2018 NFL Draft?

As we draw closer to spring, our thoughts turn inevitably to those things that give us warmth and joy. That may be sunshine and warm temperatures, birdsong at sunrise, or flowers pushing their way delicately from the ground and unfurling as a heraldic banner for springtime.

It may also be the prospect of Trade Thomas Dimitroff moving up in the draft, which for many signals the true arrival of the season.

The Falcons have made a habit of swapping up in the majority of Dimitroff’s draft classes. They did so in his first one, moving up to snag tackle Sam Baker in the first round. They did so again in 2009 to get cornerback William Middleton (?), in 2011 in the blockbuster deal that got the team Julio Jones, in 2013 to get #elite cornerback Desmond Trufant in the first round, in 2014 to grab linebacker Marquis Spruill, in 2015 to snag Grady Jarrett in the fifth round, and finally in 2017, swapping multiple selections to move up and grab the excellent Takk McKinley in the first round. Dimitroff loves himself a trade up, to put it mildly.

The Falcons are picking in the mid-20s again in 2018, which means we can’t dismiss the possibility out of hand. Historically, the Falcons have moved up for selections in the first round (to land impact players like Julio, Trufant, and McKinley) and in the fifth round (to land Jarrett, Spruill, and Middleton), as those seem to be the team’s sweet spots. They don’t have a fifth round pick this year because they traded it for swing tackle Ty Sambrailo, but they do have a full complement of their other selections and relatively few holes to patch on this roster.

That’s why I’m not going to dismiss a trade up the way I did a year ago, and especially after the Falcons made the hyper-aggressive move to go get Takk. If the Falcons want a top tier guard or defensive tackle and feel they won’t be able to get one where they’re currently standing, I’d be foolish to predict that Dimitroff won’t package up some picks to get that guy, particularly if he feels good about trading a third or a fourth to pick up additional selections later. As always, the exact parameters of such a deal are completely unknown to us (and to Dimitroff and company, at this point), but the team’s uniquely small set of needs means a trade looms as a real possibility.

Do you think the Falcons will move up?