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A few surprising Atlanta Falcon draft facts...
Red_N_Black
Posts: 353 ✭✭✭✭ Senior
Some folks here believe that the Falcons always seem to ignore our Bulldogs when it comes draft time. But is this true or a myth? Let's look at the facts. Since their first draft in1966 till yesterday's first round, the Falcons have drafted 580 players . Of those 580 players, they have drafted 9 Bulldogs total. The breakdown by position is: 3 TE's, 2 LB's, 1 QB, 1 RB, 1 DB and 1 Kicker. Since 1966 the Falcons have never drafted a Georgia OL, DL or WR. Back in 1982, DB Scott Woerner was drafted by Atlanta in the third round with the 80th overall pick. This still is highest a Bulldog has ever been selected by the Falcons. Although 44 Bulldogs during this period have been drafted in the 1st or 2nd rounds, none of these were drafted by our Falcons. 25 other current NFL teams have picked Bulldogs higher in the draft than Atlanta.
Although the Falcon's ownership and management has changed a few times over the years, this odd happenstance has stayed remarkably consistent for 52 years. I remember when the Falcons came into existence back in the day, they picked for their colors red & black and old gold & white in order to honor both Georgia and Ga. Tech. Maybe they should consider just using gold and white in the future. I really don't feel like they deserve to wear the red and black. What do you think?
Comments
In 1990, the idiot, Jerry Glanville, drafted Steve Broussard over Rodney Hampton AND Emmit Smith. Talk about a Cleveland Browns not being too smart on draft day?
True they haven't drafted many UGA players, but when you're picking from 200+ schools (counting FCS teams too), the likelihood of drafting players from one particular school are fairly small. Also, in order to draft UGA players, they need to fall to them in the draft and be at a position of need. Further making the odds even longer of picking a player from UGA. So, there's a lot of factors that play into whether they will take them or not. Falcons needed a 3rd WR, DT and a G. The only DGD in the draft that was near their pick was Wynn (who fit their needs and had 1st round talent), and he was off the board by the time it got to the Falcons.
If we can go back through past drafts and find where a UGA player(s) was available (while also having the appropriate round draft grade) and fit a position of need and didn't get picked, then we can maybe further this argument. But I can't think of any off the top of my head without researching for awhile.
@Red_N_Black , @PlayHurt , & @Teddy To me? I find it just a little bit odd that their weren't ANY better fits, in what is now over a half century... a 52 year period,? Total stands at 9 players, out of 580 players picked. That works out to Georgia Bulldog players have been a total of 1.55% of the players picked by the Atlanta Falcons since 1966. Dang.
And traded away Brett Favre in late 1991 for a #1 pick from Green Bay in the 1992 draft....which turned out to be RB Tony Smith....whoever the h3!! that was.....who only spent 2 seasons in Atlanta and had a total of 87 carries.
And can you imagine the number of @$$es they could have put in the stands during their awful years by drafting a few Georgia players?
@PlayHurt EXACTLY. Freaking geniuses... almost "Cleveland-esque" in their approach to running the Atlanta Falcons nearly into the ground for decades.
To these points: You're assuming that all NFL teams are totally objective in picking players from all these schools with no favoritism shown to any school at all. The problem with that argument is that it ignores some teams past practices that are maybe a little more obvious. Remember when the N.O. Saints made it a point to stock their roster with a very local/regional flavor. In other words, if you were a pretty good player at LSU, Tulane, SW Louisiana Tech A&M State/Monroe or any other school within 150 miles of the Superdome, you had a real good chance of getting drafted by the Ain'ts. While this without a doubt backfired on New Orleans, you may have noticed that NE Pats are obviously trying to do something similar with our Bulldogs. As for the Falcons, I think they have always done the opposite. After all, if you draft a UGA player and have to cut him, you could catch a lot of flack. Cut a player from San Diego State or Minnesota and oh well.
As for drafting at positions of need, let's be real. As far as the Falcons are concerned, for probably about 50 out of 62 years, every position on the team has been a position of need.
I've only been into the Bulldogs and Falcons since 2002 when I was in elementary school. My home state is Georgia, but my dad is a UGA alumni from '89. From my time watching the Falcons, I know they made a mistake by passing on Alec Ogletree and Todd Gurley. I believe the 2016 Falcons would have definitely pulled it out the Super Bowl in the 4th quarter with Gurley at RB, and I think we should have drafted him instead of Vic Beasley (who never showed up in the 2016-17 playoffs). The 2012 Falcons were 13-3 and the 2012 Patriots were 12-4, that was the last time the Falcons finished with a better record than the Patriots, but since both of us fell in the conference championship to the 49ers and Ravens that year, the Patriots still drafted behind us because of the Ravens winning the Super Bowl that year. So for I don't know how many consecutive years the Patriots have still been able to draft a bunch of Bulldogs, so there's no excuses. Since Dan Quinn has been around, we've drafted a lot more SEC players lately especially on the defensive side (LSU, Florida), so at least that's an accomplishment, because in the past the Falcons used to avoid SEC players too. I believe there's a mind blowing stat that over the last several years a Super Bowl team always had a UGA player or two on the roster.
I heard that Brett Favre couldn't stay out of trouble when he was in Atlanta, which is why the Falcons traded him away. Once he was with the Packers he turned his life around.
When I think of gold and white in the NFL, I think of the Saints, so no no aaah aaah. All Georgia/Atlanta sports teams are supposed to have RED in them and they deserve it. That's why Tech is the younger brother with Saints colors but instead of black they have blue. The Carolina Panthers are the Auburn Tigers of the NFL with a South Carolina vibe. The Tampa Bay Bucs are the Florida Gators of the NFL.
He just enjoyed having a few beers after practice is all. What 22-year-old red-blooded male with a ton of cash doesn't?
Nah....Glanville didn't want Favre from the beginning, said so publicly, and kept him benched because of that. He once said that it "would take a plane crash" before Favre would get into a game.
Bottom line is, Glanville was an effing moron.
What about when th Falcons took Keith Brooking so high? That was a huge deal since he went to the trade school. Obviously where they picked in the first round wasn’t conducive to a UGA Guy, but further down the line they could’ve grabbed someone
I was not a Glanville fan either except for one thing Glanville was head and shoulders above most NFL coaches when it came to one thing: clock management. To me this has always been and continues to be a obvious weak spot for many head coaches, pro and college. Even KIrby has struggled with this so far, although we admittedly have just a small sample size. For example if you go back and watch the last 2 minutes of the first half in the Tech game, you'll see the we could have easily put more points on the board if we had managed the time better. It seems that this is more of an issue for coaches with a defensive background than those from an offensive background. Most coaches would do well to go back and study Glanville and his time management strategies.. I also think most head coaches would benefit from some qualified analyst/assistant having their ear for the sole purpose of providing time management strategy during these crucial times in a game.
And they passed on Hines Ward, who became a Super Bowl MVP.
@Red_N_Black , @Kasey , @UnderDog68 OH MY GOSH!!! THAT IS SO Atlanta (all of these examples y'all have listed in this thread)... y'all know what??, I kind of now believe that the Cleveland Browns DO actually help to KEEP a LOT of the NFL futility, laughing stock, & "dumpster fire" jokes off of the Atlanta Falcons, but just barely....