Atlanta Falcons 2017 NFL Draft retrospective

How should Atlanta Falcons feel about their 2017 NFL Draft class after three years? We take a deep dive into it.

The Atlanta Falcons were riding pretty high coming into the 2017 NFL draft. They were coming off of a Super Bowl run with a roster full of young upstart players and looked like the Falcons simply needed to add a few pieces in order to bolster their chances at not only returning to the Super Bowl but winning the franchise’s first-ever Lombardi Trophy.

Coming into the 2017 NFL Draft, the Atlanta Falcons really needed to address their pass rush area and draft a guy that could work opposite of NFL sack leader Vic Beasley. They also needed to address the offensive line, specifically left guard as Chris Chester announced his retirement. They also needed to look at adding talent on the back-end of the defense at free safety as they had just converted Ricardo Allen but needed a true free safety to solidify the defense.

The 2017 Atlanta Falcons draft had picks 31, 75, 136, 149, 156, and 174. They would end up drafting Takk McKinley, Duke Riley, Sean Harlow, Damontae Kazee, Brian Hill and Eric Saubert with those picks.

Original Grade

FanSided: B

"“Atlanta didn’t need to make any huge splash moves in the draft. The Falcons were very methodical in how they approached the draft, opting to trade up in the first round with the Seattle Seahawks while moving out of the second round to gain more picks from the Buffalo Bills.”"

Draft Class

Round 1 (No. 26) 

The Atlanta Falcons would move up from 31st overall to 26th in order to select defensive end, Takk McKinley, out of UCLA. Thomas Dimitroff saw McKinley as the perfect running mate for Vic Beasley and had visions of those two wrecking the NFC South for years to come.

McKinley is entering his fourth year with the Falcons and one that is very important to his future. The Falcons have not yet picked up his fifth-year option and do not seem in a hurry to do so. McKinley and Beasley didn’t record a sack in the same game until the 2019 season and only accomplished that feat twice.

McKinley has become more known for his Twitter antics than his on the field performance which is never good for any player, let alone one that the franchise traded up to select.

Grade: D

Round 3 (No. 75) 

Duke Riley was an absolute mess, but one that everyone saw coming a mile away. The Falcons reached on Riley because of the success that his former LSU teammate Deion Jones was experiencing in Atlanta.

Up to this point in 2017, Thomas Dimitroff has selected five players from LSU during his time as Atlanta Falcons general manager – Keith Zinger, Chevis Jackson, Jalen Collins, Deion Jones and Duke Riley. Only Jones brought anything tangible to the organization.

Duke Riley was a workout warrior, not a football player. He looked lost and slow during his time with Atlanta and added no value outside of his limited role on special teams. Riley was eventually traded to the Philadelphia Eagles during the 2019 NFL season.

Grade: F

Round 4 (No. 136) 

This pick was doomed from the beginning. No NFL general manager is worse at identifying offensive line talent than Thomas Dimitroff. It is a real talent to be as bad as he is in this area. Harlow was selected by the Atlanta Falcons at 136th overall out of Oregon State.

Harlow made one appearance for the Atlanta Falcons and that was in 2019 against the Carolina Panthers. He officially took just one snap and was inactive or on the practice squad for the rest of his time with the Falcons.

Grade: F

Round 5 (No. 149) 

Coming out of San Diego State in 2017, Kazee was the player in the Falcons draft that seemed to have the most upside. He played both safety and corner in college and was seen as versatile. At 5’11 and 190 pounds, he had the size to play both at the NFL level as well.

As a junior, Kazee was number two in the country with eight interceptions and as a senior was third in the country with seven. He had shown that he was a ball hawk and could make plays whether in a zone or in man.

Kazee has played a few different roles with the Atlanta Falcons over his first few seasons and will be counted on a lot in 2020.

Grade: B

Round 5 (No. 156) 

A surprising pick given the fact that the Atlanta Falcons already have Tevin Coleman and Devonta Freeman on the roster and all the other needs that the team has.

Hill averaged more than five yards per carry in college and 6’1 220 pounds was a big bruising running back and the Falcons thought his running style would actually complement the running backs already on the roster. As a junior in 2016, Hill led the NCAA in rushing attempts with 349.

Not only did he run the ball well in college, but he also averaged more than 9 yards per receptions as well. Because of injuries to Freeman and Coleman no longer with the Falcons, Hill has carried a large portion of the load for the Falcons and more than likely will as we head into 2020.

Grade: C

Round 5 (No. 174) 

Another surprising pick for the Falcons, but this late in the draft, not many are going to complain about it. Saubert would play in just 32 games for the Falcons and record seven catches for 69 total yards. He never looked like he belonged in the NFL and the Falcons kept him hanging around until they traded him to the Patriots for a seventh-round pick.

The Patriots would cut him at the end of the 2019 preseason and the Bears would pick him up. He made two appearances in Chicago in 2019 and ended the year with two catches and 21 yards.

Grade: F

Retrospective Grade

The initial grade of this class was average. None of the Atlanta Falcons picks were all that great and none jumped out at you as a game-changing pick. Every NFL team should aim to pick up three starters in a draft and the Falcons picked up one for the 2017 season and a couple more got starting time due to attrition.

Looking back, this draft class earned an F, if for no other reason, Thomas Dimitroff and the Falcons passed on TJ Watt in favor of Takk McKinley and they traded up to do that. Takk McKinley and Vic Beasley never formed a feared pass-rushing duo, while Watt has gone on to play a lot like his older brother, JJ.

The Falcons also took Brian Hill over Aaron Jones who led the NFL in rushing touchdowns in 2019 and was a huge part of Packer’s success. As far as tight ends, George Kittle went nine picks after the Falcons took Eric Saubert.

The Duke Riley pick may go down as one of the three worst picks the Atlanta Falcons have made under Thomas Dimitroff. Kareem Hunt, Eddie Jackson, John Johnson, James Conner, and Tarik Cohen all went in the third round after Riley and all of them have been elected to at least one Pro-Bowl. All of them could have helped the Falcons a lot more than Riley ever did.

The 2017 Atlanta Falcons draft class was an unmitigated disaster. The one thing that the Falcons could not do in 2017 was a miss on half of their draft picks and instead, that is exactly what they did.

To be as bad at identifying talent as Dimitroff is, it takes a level of ridiculousness that most of us will never comprehend. To pass on numerous Pro-Bowl talent and pick guys that never played or spent more time on the practice squad than the regular roster should in itself be a fire-able offense, instead three years, Dimitroff was given another year to try and right a ship he is steering head-on into an iceberg.

Year four is going to be a big year for Takk McKinley, Brian Hill and Demontae Kazee. Takk wants the Falcons to pick up his fifth-year option and the other two are hoping to show their value in order to pick up a second and more lucrative NFL contract.

by Jeff Benedict

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