The Falcoholic Mock Draft: BPA edition

In the spirit of draft-season (should I be buying gifts for my family?), I decided to wade into the mock-draft waters because I’m bored, everyone is doing it and dear god it’s so hard to produce content in the off-season.

That said, I wanted to take a different approach. I know nothing about the players in the draft and won’t pretend like I do. However, I do know how to push buttons and go onto a website, so with those extensive qualifications I’m doing a BPA-only mock draft.

The rules are simple. Whoever the highest rated available player is, that’s who you draft - regardless of team need. I used the wonderful fanspeak website to pull this off. I decided to do three attempts to see how this would shake out.

Attempt 1

Big Board: NFL Draft Scout, Team Needs: Fanspeak, Difficulty: Classic

In the first round of the NFL draft, the Falcons select:

Center - Billy Price out of Ohio State. Oh. That’s not a great start. Especially with Vita Vea sitting RIGHT BEHIND HIM. UGH.

In the second round, the Falcons select:

CB - Mike Hughes out of Central Florida. I mean, it’s not the end of the world to pick a corner, but I don’t think CB is even a top-5 need for the Falcons. Welp. Moving on...

In the third round, the Falcons select:

WR - Deon Cain out of Clemson. Actually, I don’t have a big problem with this. If the value is there in the mid-rounds for a receiver, the team should absolutely do it. Plus, we NARROWLY avoided drafting a punter in this draft class. Whew.

In the fourth round, the Falcons select:

Punter - Michael Dickson out of Texas. Dammit.

So, after four rounds, this is the Falcons haul.

Bleck.

Attempt 2

Big Board: Fanspeak, Team Needs: NFL Mock, Difficulty: Classic

In the first round of the NFL draft, the Falcons select:

DL - Taven Bryan out of Florida. Hey, this pick actually makes some sense. For once, BPA wasn’t a disaster for team needs. Maybe there’s some hope here.

In the second round of the draft, the Falcons select:

TE - Dallas Goedert out of South Dakota State. So, again, this actually makes a little sense. There’s no way to know what the team has in Eric Saubert, so a good prospect at TE may be a worthwhile investment.

In the third round of the draft, the Falcons select:

OT - Martinas Rankin out of Mississippi State. So, if you’re of the mindset that the Falcons shouldn’t keep Jake Matthews, maybe you like this pick. It’s not the worst pick in the world and a case can be made that the Falcons need a better swing tackle.

In the fourth round of the draft, the Falcons select:

DL - Nathan Shepherd out of Fort Hays State. Again, this pick makes a ton of sense. There are many people who think the team will double-dip on the defensive line and doing so in the fourth is a great place to do it.

So, after four rounds, this is the draft haul:

To be honest, I can live with that draft class. It’s not perfect, but for being BPA it sure is workable.

Attempt 3

Big Board: CBS - Chris Trapasso, Team Needs: User-voted, Difficulty: Classic

In the first round of the NFL draft, the Falcons select:

Edge - Ogbonnia Okoronkwo out of Oklahoma. You can never have enough pass rushers, right? Although, with Vic Beasley and Takk McKinley on the team in 2018, this feels like a wasted pick especially with Taven Bryan still available.

In the second round of the draft, the Falcons select:

CB - Isaiah Oliver out of Colorado. Again, I’m not a big fan of drafting a corner this early. Trufant and Alford are quality starters and Poole already has competition for the nickel spot. Oh well, it’s only one pick.

In the third round of the draft, the Falcons select:

CB - M.J. Stewart out of N. Carolina. AW DAMMIT.

In the fourth round of the draft, the Falcons select:

WR - Christian Kirk out of Texas A&M. I can live with this pick. A mid-rounder on a WR seems sensible for the Falcons, but the two consecutive cornerbacks above STILL PISSES ME OFF.

After four rounds, the Falcons draft haul:

There you have it, folks, Three separate passes through a mock-draft simulator going BPA all the way.

Your thoughts on the BPA draft classes above?