(SportsNetwork.com) –<\/p>\n
1 (6) – Jake Matthews, OT, Texas A&M; 2 (37) – Ra’Shede Hageman DT, Minnesota; 3 (68) – Dezmen Southward, FS, Wisconsin; 4 (103) – Devonta Freeman, RB, Florida State; 4 (139) – Prince Shembo, OLB, Notre Dame; 5 (147) – Ricardo Allen, CB, Purdue; 5 (168) – Marquis Spruill, ILB, Syracuse; 7 (253) – Yawin Smallwood, OLB, UConn; 7 (255) – Tyler Starr, OLB, South Dakota<\/p>\n
Top Picks Analysis: The Falcons had visions of trading up for the No. 1 pick in the draft, South Carolina star pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney, but that was cost prohibitive so they stayed put at No. 6 and went with offensive tackle Jake Matthews, a safe pick at a need position.<\/p>\n
Minnesota defensive tackle Ra’Shede Hageman is a boom-or-bust prospect with a very high ceiling as a player, while Wisconsin safety Dezmen Southward was another need pick and will be given every opportunity to replace the departed Thomas DeCoud as William Moore’s running mate.<\/p>\n
Best Value Pick: Fourth-round selection Prince Shembo of Notre Dame lacks the length to be an every down difference maker on the edge but he has the instincts and toughness to be a solid situational pass rusher for a team that is desperate for one.<\/p>\n
Questionable Calls: Hageman flashes but has always lacked consistency on the college level. A move to the five-technique at the professional level could either accentuate his natural physical skills or turn him into a tweener with no real position.<\/p>\n
Summary: Matthews is as safe as it gets at No. 6 overall and will certainly be a welcome addition for Matt Ryan but general manager Thomas Dimitroff really rolled the dice after the Texas A&M legacy.<\/p>\n
FINAL GRADE: B<\/p>\n
Undrafted rookie free agent signings: DT\/FB Roosevelt Nix, Kent State; RB Jerome Smith, Syracuse; CB Tay Glover-Wright, Utah State; OL James Stone, Tennessee; WR Geraldo Boldewijn, Boise State; QB Jeff Matthews, Cornell; WR Bernard Reedy, Toledo; DE Jacques Smith, Tennessee; P Matt Yoklic, Pittsburgh; DL Nosa Eguae, Auburn; WR Freddie Martino, North Greenville; LB Brenden Daley, Hawaii; TE Jacob Pederson, Wisconsin; S Kimario McFadden, South Carolina; DE Walker May, Vanderbilt; DT Donte Rumph, Kentucky; S Javon Marshall, Vanderbilt; S Jestin Love, Central Arkansas; K Drew Basil, Ohio State FB Maurice Hagens, Miami; CB Devonta Glover-Wright, Utah State<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(SportsNetwork.com) – 1 (6) – Jake Matthews, OT, Texas A&M; 2 (37) – Ra’Shede Hageman DT, Minnesota; 3 (68) – Dezmen Southward, FS, Wisconsin; 4 (103) – Devonta Freeman, RB, Florida State; 4 (139) – Prince Shembo, OLB, Notre Dame; 5 (147) – Ricardo Allen, CB, Purdue; 5 (168) – Marquis Spruill, ILB, Syracuse; 7 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[18,107,108],"class_list":["post-18597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-falcons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18597\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}