Falcons take pass rusher in Mel Kiper’s first mock draft

The Godfather of Mock Drafts has put out his first iteration of the 2025 cycle, and Mel Kiper has the Falcons finally addressing the defensive side of the ball with their first-round pick.

Since Terry Fontenot took over GM duties in Atlanta, the Falcons have only drafted offensive players in the first round, but that seems impossible to do for a fifth straight offseason, right? The offense doesn’t have any glaring holes, while the defense has many.

The Falcons secondary and front seven need to be bolstered, and Kiper has Fontenot dipping into the SEC to draft Shemar Stewart out of Texas A&M, a defensive end, with the 15th pick.

“Expect to hear this name a lot more as we get into predraft events. Stewart still has some development ahead, but his athletic traits at 6-foot-6, 290 pounds could push him up the board this spring. Atlanta was 31st in sacks (31) and 27th in pass rush win rate (34.1%) this season, and it hasn’t done nearly enough to clean up that weakness. The Matthew Judon trade in August was a step in the right direction, but he added just 5.5 sacks this season and is a free agent.

Stewart didn’t rack up sacks in college — 1.5 in 2024 — but he has the potential to break out in a big way in the pros.”

The lack of production in college is concerning, but sometimes, projecting what a prospect can become rather than what he was in college is more important. And Stewart was made in a football laboratory.

If Will Johnson, Michigan’s All-American cornerback, or Georgia’s top defenders, Mykel Williams and Jalon Walker, aren’t available, the Falcons could do much worse than Stewart, but that’s still not enough. The Falcons have to overkill that side of the ball, or it will continue to hold the team back.