Falcons Get An "a" Grade From Cnnsi On Jake Matthews Pick @ #6

[Osiruz 10,079]

I like that he's going to get better. He needs to work on his strength which I have no doubt he will. Imo he should be a rock @ rt and we should work on replacing samantha baker w/ holmes who imo is almost as good/bad

[dardan 298]

A good, solid start to the draft. I will disregard any "sky is falling" debate until after the third round at a minimum. There's plenty of work left to do and plenty of time to do it.

[4dabirds 3,746]

me too......

I wonder if Falcons tried to offer Oakland something for Mack or if Raiders were just 100% set on drafting Mack - we may never know.

I think the Raiders were looking to draft Watkins, but decided on Mack once Buffalo swooped in.

[NCFalconfan 9,655]

I got really excited about this pick when I was reminded about this chart:

NFL QB hit/sack stats for 2013

http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=2&season=2013&seasonType=REG&role=TM&d-447263-n=1&d-447263-o=2&d-447263-p=1&statisticCategory=OFFENSIVE_LINE&conference=ALL&d-447263-s=PASSING_QBHIT

[Dominique is Manufique 638]

Trading down to draft jake Matthews??? Wtf people??? He'd be drafted by your next pick.

Be happy we got arguably the best tackle in college football from day 1. Impossible to please everyone but people saying you could've traded down and still gotten him are stuck in madden world.

[Jesus 26,408]

I hate rating the draft since it doesn't matter once mini camp starts and most drafted players bomb out of the league in three years. Matthews should be around for awhile that's a good thing. We don't need high risk picks.

[Herr Doktor 8,144]

You know TD tried to move up, but he didn't want to screw the pooch on two drafts for one player. He's done that, and it cost us. He has seen the error of his ways. The Packers, the Steelers, the Niners, the Pats and Seahawks all build through the draft with discipline. Stock pile draft picks and go with volume. The Ravens under Ozzie have done this magnificently.

[Thiccolas Cage 1,376]

Anything less than an A would be stupid.

[Thiccolas Cage 1,376]

I have been critical of Matthews but if we were going to stay at six, he would have offered us the best value for our pick and makes the most sense as far as character goes.

[Tootie Quivers 500]

yes, my only criticism of the pick was "why not move down a few spots?" - apparently nobody called them when they were on clock - guess it was a 'dead spot' in the draft.

I think had Buffalo not consumated the move to #4 for Watkins - they might would have wanted to jump Tampa for Mike Evans - when Buffalo moved up - it killed the action on the Falcons pick at #6 - that is my theory, anyway.

As long as it took to get the pick in I think we were listening to offers.

[FinalScore2.0 1,161]

Picking Matthews at # 6 was the most logical selection. Moving up was too costly, and

as TD said, no one called about trading back. It's up too the coaching staff now to help

Matthews reach his full potential in terms of strength, conditioning and technique.

Now the whole unit has to build chemistry. Having a new guy like Jon Asamoah beside him should help in this transition. They'll grow together as they both try to prove their value to the team.

Hopefully Baker can stay healthy for 2 or 3 years and play at his 2012 form. Wishful thinking I know. But the continuity would be great if that happened.

[theDIRTYcode 2,614]

It's the pick we needed. I wanted Mack, but when he went to Oakland I was ready to fix the oline. We now have solidified the entire right side of our line. Time for the Ice Man to go to work.

Now please, for the love of anything holy, FIND ME A PASS RUSHER!!