Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff has made a trade in all five drafts that he’s directed for the Falcons.
In his pre-draft news conference, he promised more moves during the NFL draft that begins Thursday.
“We’re going to be active,” Dimitroff said. “Active could be up, down or around, but we are definitely looking to continue to bolster this roster.”
The team must replace three of their top five cornerbacks and could try to move up to get Washington’s Desmond Trufant or Florida State’s Xavier Rhodes. A move into the top 10 to select Alabama cornerback Dee Milliner may prove too costly.
The team released Dunta Robinson, who started at right cornerback the past three seasons. Brent Grimes (Miami) and Christopher Owens (Cleveland) signed with other teams in free agency.
“Corner positions are always coveted in this league,” Dimitroff said. “We are always trying to find the ideal athlete. The person (who) can move well. The person that can jump and make plays on the ball. That’s not easy to find.”
The Falcons have the 30th pick in the first round, which is set for Thursday and continues through Saturday. They have 11 picks overall, including four compensatory picks. Those picks, per league rules, can’t be traded.
If Dimitroff doesn’t move up for a cornerback, he’ll have to address the position later in the draft.
“As a league, we are always in the hunt to try to improve our depth at the corner position,” Dimitroff said. “But there are other positions like that as well. (We’re) definitely not just looking at corner and not just looking at tight end and whatever positions that have been projected that we’re going to be interested in.”
Oh yes, tight end.
The Falcons received a boost with the return of Tony Gonzalez, but don’t have his heir-apparent on the roster. They have heavily scouted the tight ends and worked out Stanford’s Zach Ertz on their West Coast scouting trip.
“To have an opportunity to bring in tight ends at whatever level to work with Tony Gonzalez could be a major positive for our organization in the future,” Dimitroff said. “I’m glad that Tony was able to make sure that he was very clear about it before the draft and quite honestly during that free-agency time, that sort of eased the situation a little bit and allowed us to be that much more creative going into this draft.”
Dimitroff has made big draft-day trades (Julio Jones and Sam Baker), and he’s made little ones (trading up for Jacquizz Rodgers and Dominique Franks).
In Dimitroff’s five previous drafts, he made deals with Baltimore, Philadelphia, Cleveland, St. Louis (twice), Dallas and Washington. He could have several potential trade partners this year if the Falcons decide to move up.
Former Falcons executive David Caldwell is with Jacksonville and has the second overall pick. Former Falcons executive Brian Xanders is with Detroit. The Lions have the fifth pick. Former Falcons executive Les Snead is the general manager of the St. Louis Rams. They have the 16th and 22nd picks.
The New England Patriots, Dimitroff’s former club, are slotted right in front of the Falcons at 29.
“I think it’s very important to make sure that you do have those good relationships around the league,” Dimitroff said.
The Falcons have made it clear that they are a needs-based drafting team under Dimitroff. They appear to have “needs” at cornerback, defensive end, linebacker, tight end and right guard.
Dimitroff is ready to use seven of those 11 picks to move around the draft board to fill those needs.
“I think that it’s very important for us to come into every draft with an open book, open to do business,” Dimitroff said.
Since the Falcons made the 5-for-1 deal with Cleveland to move up 21 spots to select Jones in 2011, their phones have stayed busy.
“We’re always going to get calls, I believe, inquiring,” Dimitroff said. “Sometimes they are going to be outlandish calls, but that’s all right. I like the fact that people are open to giving us a ring on potential deals.”
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