FLOWERY BRANCH — The Falcons didn't receive any "concrete" offers to trade down out of the 17th pick in the first round of the draft.
The Falcons have just five picks in this draft and some contended that they could trade their 17th pick to amass more picks. The Falcons used that pick to select safety Keanu Neal, a safety from Florida.
“We did a lot of calling around,” Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff said. “A lot of us in the middle of the draft, there were no specific calls for this pick.”
The Falcons believed that they had to select Neal because he wouldn’t be around at the 50th pick in the draft. Pittsburgh and Carolina also had high interest in Neal and were ready to select him in the first round, too.
“There was a lot of action, a lot of calling action, but nothing concrete with anyone,” Dimitroff said. “I know that it happened at the early part of the draft, but in the middle and back, I don’t see anything happening.”
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