The Atlanta Falcons moving back in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft appears to be gaining steam. The team's own senior reporter Tori McElhaney explored the possible scenario in her latest mock draft Thursday.
In McElhaney's hypothetical, though, the Falcons didn't just execute a routine trade down the board. McElhaney identified the Los Angeles Chargers as the perfect trade partner for the Falcons becausen of the possibility of the Chargers also wanting to move up in the fourth round.
McElhaney proposed the Falcons send their No. 15 overall pick and No. 118 selection in the fourth round to the Chargers for five picks -- No. 22 overall and No. 55 in the second round along with No. 125, 158 and 181 on Day 3 in the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds, respectively.
Such a trade would give the Falcons three selections in the top 55 picks. But McElhaney wasn't done proposing trades in the mock.
In the third round of her new mock draft, the Falcons sent their fifth-rounder, the Chargers sixth-round pick, two seventh-round selections and two 2026 picks to the New York Giants for No. 99 overall and a 2025 fifth-round pick.
With that trade, the Falcons lost their draft depth on Day 3 in 2025 and next year. But the end result gave Atlanta four picks in the top 99 and two more on Day 3.
After both trades, the Falcons made six selections in McElhaney's mock draft. She predicted the Falcons to use five of them to address the defense while the lone offensive pick was for a center.
Here's a full list of McElhaney's predictions from her latest mock draft:
By all accounts, this would be a tremendous draft haul for the Falcons. Not only did the team manage to land another second and a third-round pick in the new mock, but the Falcons still drafted Georgia edge rusher Mykel Williams despite moving back in the first round.
A lot of NFL mock drafts have the Falcons selecting Williams at No. 15 overall without a trade back.
With the extra capital due from the two trades, the Falcons addressed all of their defensive needs in McElhaney's latest mock. The Falcons also added a center, which is arguably their biggest offensive need.
If the Falcons could pull off something similar to this new mock in the real 2025 draft, a lot of Atlanta sports fans are going to be understandable happy.
Of course, the big question is whether this is possible. The strong draft class McElhaney predicted the Falcons to land doesn't happenn without two other teams agreeing to blockbuster trades that involve at least seven draft picks.
There's also the question of whether Williams will still be available for the Falcons if they trade back in the first round. In some mocks, Williams doesn't even last until No. 15 overall.
Still, maybe McElhaney's mock foreshadows one thing -- big swings.
The Falcons took a big swing on quarterback Michael Penix Jr. last year. Maybe they should do it again this spring in the form of trades that result in more draft capital coming to Atlanta.
