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Falcons to highlight TAPS program in second round of NFL draft

Then-Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan leads the team through an agility drill during Military Day in August 2017 at the team's football practice facility in Flowery Branch. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

Credit: Curtis Compton

Credit: Curtis Compton

Then-Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan leads the team through an agility drill during Military Day in August 2017 at the team's football practice facility in Flowery Branch. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
By
April 26, 2022

FLOWERY BRANCH — In the second round of the NFL draft Friday, the Falcons will help the league honor the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) as part of the league’s Salute to Service initiative.

The Gadsden family, lifelong Falcons fans from Fort Walton Beach, Fla., will join Commissioner Roger Goodell on stage in the second round to help make the Falcons’ pick.

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The night of the pick, April 29, is the same date that 2nd Lt. Clifford Gadsden Jr. was killed in Iraq. Through the TAPS partnership the NFL seeks to offer care to people grieving the loss of a military loved one.

The family was honored by the Falcons during their annual TAPS weekend in 2017 and again in 2020.

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About the Author

Honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his "long and distinguished reporting in the field of pro football," D. Orlando Ledbetter, Esq. has covered the NFL 28 seasons. A graduate of Howard University, he's a winner of Georgia Sportswriter of the Year and three Associated Press Sports Editor awards.

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