Day 2: The Falcons ranked dead last in team pressure rate last season (21%). They needed to give Grady Jarrett some help along the defensive front, specifically off the edge. Ebiketie earned 88.0-plus PFF pass-rushing grades in each of his final two seasons at Penn State to go along with 80th-plus percentile finishes in every athletic testing drill, save the bench press. It’s not hard to see why the Falcons would make the move up for him.
Troy Andersen can be a special player for Atlanta. He was recruited to Montana State to play linebacker but was forced to start at running back and quarterback his first and second years in college because he was the best option they had at both positions. He didn’t play in 2020 because of COVID-19 and then finally got the opportunity to play off-ball linebacker full-time in 2021. He’s a freaky athlete who is still learning the position, but he has as high a ceiling as any of the off-ball linebackers in the 2022 class.
Desmond Ridder was seen as a fringe first-round quarterback, but the NFL evidently doesn’t like this class. He is a steal at No. 74 overall. He has the best processing of any of this year’s quarterbacks and boasts legitimate speed and athleticism with a solid arm. His accuracy is an issue (adjusted completion rate of just 72% for his career), but he has real starting potential on a team with no long-term starter in place.
A massively experienced player with five seasons of college production under his belt, Malone can rush the passer and bring power to the table despite being undersized. He was impressive at the Senior Bowl and has added some bulk during the pre-draft process. He had 180 total pressures across five years in college, never grading lower than 74.8 overall.
Day 3: Tyler Allgeier has a very NFL-translatable game with his size and decisive running style. He averaged 4.4 yards after contact per attempt for his career at BYU and will bring his tough rushing style to Arthur Smith’s downhill run scheme.