With the draft almost a week away there will be a lot of speculations on teams that could maneuver in the first round. One of the latest teams to gain some steam in terms of trading up are the Atlanta Falcons, who NFL insider Ian Rapoport says spent a lot of time evaluating players who will be gone before they take the podium for the No. 16 overall pick.
The Athletic’s Dane Brugler added that they could be eying a move for Florida’s C.J. Anderson as the team needs a cornerback.
An ATL trade up for CB CJ Henderson is something to watch for… https://t.co/w8xZvQDMjB
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) April 15, 2020
Of course, with this making draft headlines one team some have speculated to be a potential suitor is the Jacksonville Jaguars, who are led by their former front office lieutenant Dave Caldwell. Until this day, he still has a good relationship with his former boss and current Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff. However, it’s also worth noting that the two have yet to make a trade with each other since Caldwell joined the Jags.
According to Jimmy Johnson’s infamous draft value chart, the Jags’ No. 9 pick is valued at 1,350 points while the Falcons’ No. 16 pick is valued at 1,000, which is a difference of 350 points. If the Falcons wanted to trade up, an option could be coming off their 2020 second-round pick (No. 47), which would more than make up for the difference with a value of 450 points. However, the Falcons’ third-rounder (No. 78), would fall short value-wise as it’s worth 200 points.
In a scenario where the Jags gained Atlanta’s second-rounder, the Jags would have multiple picks in the first, second, fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds. They would then have more picks than any team in the 2020 draft (13) aside from the Miami Dolphins.
The unfortunate part about such a trade is that it’s unlikely. The main reason for that is because the Falcons lack 2020 draft capital, which the Jags would want as their staff is on the hot seat and in need of immediate contributions. At the moment Atlanta only has six draft picks: one in each of the top-3 rounds, two in Round 4, and one in Round 7. They would likely want to hang on to those limited picks because their staff is also on the hot seat like Jacksonville.
If by some way the Jags and Falcons did do business for pick No. 47, it certainly would help as that’s the range for players like cornerback A.J. Terrell, offensive lineman Lloyd Cushenberry, guard Solomon Kindley and many others who’d fix needs the Jags have. That said, if they trade back don’t expect it to be with Atlanta and also look for them to stay closer to the top-10 selections.