Falcoholinks: All the news you need for Thursday, Apr. 18

Come one, come all, for some Falcons links on this fine Thursday morning. We are one week away from the NFL Draft.

The Falcons schedule is out!

The schedule dropped, and as you’d expect, it’s an interesting slate. The Falcons have a lot of games against the AFC and some genuine contenders early in the year before their bye carries them into a stretch that features five consecutive NFC South games. It’s not an easy schedule, but I do think it’s a manageable one if this team’s talent upgrades to this point (to say nothing of the draft) wind up being significant.

Also the Falcons’ schedule release announcement on Twitter was a delight:

A wild John Wetzel appears

The Falcons love to tinker with the roster, and they’ve shown real dedication to plugging holes ahead of the draft to afford them some flexibility. That’s why it’s hardly shocking that they finally added a tackle.

John Wetzel isn’t a huge name, but he’s a versatile, veteran lineman who has 24 games of starting experience at both guard and tackle. As the last man on the line, which he’s likely competing to be, that experience makes him a solid fit.

Cornerback to Atlanta building steam?

Look, there’s not too many of us who are enamored with the idea of the Falcons taking a cornerback with the 14th pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, but we can’t rule it out. It’s also a little disconcerting to see more draft analysts awarding the team a corner at 14, including NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah.

On one hand, Greedy Williams is such a Falcons player it’s almost hilarious, as he’s a cornerback with length out of LSU. On the other hand, cornerback doesn’t loom as the team’s biggest need at the moment, and they’d need to move a player or at least significantly shift playing time to make way for a rookie corner. Knowing this team as we do, though, it’s not fair to rule it out.

Julio Jones’s low-key skip

A year ago Julio Jones elected to miss most of the team’s offseason workouts, but the two sides struck a temporary deal and promised to address his contract this offseason. Julio’s not going to voluntary workouts again, but has said he’ll be present for mandatory minicamp.

Unless the tone and tenor of negotiations changes drastically, this is not a big deal. Julio had a stellar season in 2018 despite working out on his own and both sides seem very optimistic about this deal getting done and getting done amicably. Note this milestone, in other words, but don’t sweat it.