Examining the Falcons’ 1st-round options: Tight end

Having a draft pick in the top 5 is actually somewhat rare for the Falcons. The last time it happened was in 2008 in the aftermath of the Michael Vick scandal and the Bobby Petrino disaster of 2007. Having a pick this high gives you a host of options, with the hope being that you won’t be here again for a long while.

In this series, we’ll take a look at all the different ways the Falcons can use this pick to rebuild under a new regime. Today, we consider the option of grabbing a tight end.

Why it makes sense

Hayden Hurst stands to benefit from playing under a competent offensive coordinator in Arthur Smith, but the Falcons could turn the tight end position into a dominant one. While Smith was in Tennessee, he regularly featured 2 tight end sets. Unless you believe Jaeden Graham is going to be that guy going forward, Atlanta could stand to add another talented player at the position.

Kyle Pitts would clearly be the target and he’s a player that could be an absolute star at the position going forward. With Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley drawing outside attention, the combination of Pitts and Hurst could do incredibly damage across the middle along with Russell Gage, making Matt Ryan’s job easier and/or paving the way for the next quarterback Atlanta selects. When Hurst becomes a free agent, Atlanta will have the luxury of deciding between keeping a potentially dominant tandem or

Why it might be the wrong move

To be blunt, using a top-5 pick on a tight end is way too rich. The position just doesn’t have that kind of value, even in the current pass happy NFL. While Pitts is undoubtedly an incredibly gifted tight end, he would need to be Rob Gronkowski 2.0 to justify a pick this high, and there’s obviously some question of whether he can be that good in the NFL.

The Falcons have already invested a 2nd round pick into Hurst (via trade), so investing yet another top pick in such a short timeframe seems like a luxury they could ill justify unless Pitts would be one of the top options in this passing game for a decade to come. This move might make more sense if they were in the middle of the first round, but #4 would probably draw a lot of backlash.

What do you think? Would you support spending a first round pick this high on a tight end? Let us know in the comments below.