2021 NFL mock draft: Justin Fields heads to Jaguars

With Austin Hooper now in Cleveland, the Falcons made a modest, two-year investment in former Baltimore Ravens tight end Hayden Hurst. Hurst is a good tight end who will provide a solid check-down option for Matt Ryan. Still, he is not going to replace Hooper’s pass-catching production.

Enter Kyle Pitts, who is so good that he may actually go higher than this. At 6-foot-6 and 240 pounds, he’ll likely need to add some weight to block inline at the NFL level. But, despite that lack, he is so good in the passing game that he may rarely be asked to block anyway, especially early in his career.

The Ravens have made no secrets about what their offensive philosophy is going to be moving forward. They’re going to run the football, a lot, and then mix in some passing as convenient for them to do so.

The biggest key to doing that successfully year in and year out is the offensive line. The team has made almost no investment in the interior offensive line and sooner or later, that strategy is bound to backfire. But, John Harbaugh knows that and will subsequently invest heavily there in the near future.

And that’s where Tennessee guard Trey Smith comes in. Trey Smith is very tall for a guard, standing 6-foot-6, and he’s also big at 335 pounds. Maybe that means that at some point he gets looked at to be a tackle in the NFL, but he’s an All-American at the guard position and the best interior offensive lineman in the country.