Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff entered the NFL draft with 11 picks and came out with eight players.
In two separate deals, the team traded picks in the third, sixth and seventh rounds.
Dimitroff, who made a trade in each of his previous five drafts with the Falcons, made two trades this year. On Saturday, he traded a seventh-round pick (236 overall) to the Chicago Bears to move up 10 places in the fifth round.
The team selected TCU defensive end Stansly Maponga with the 153rd overall pick.
In addition to the Saturday trade, Dimitroff moved up eight spots in the first round in a trade with St. Louis. The Falcons sent their third- and sixth-round picks to the Rams and will receive a conditional seventh-rounder in 2015.
The Rams used the 92nd overall pick in the third round to select West Virginia wide receiver Stedman Bailey. LSU defensive end Sam Montgomery went to the Texans two picks later.
The Rams traded the 198th pick in the sixth round to Houston. The Texans selected Bowling Green defensive tackle Chris Jones with the pick.
Chicago used the fifth-round pick (163rd) to select Louisiana Tech offensive tackle Jordan Mills. In the seventh round, they used the 236th pick to selected Washington State wide receiver Marquess Wilson.
The Falcons found friendly trading partners in the Rams and Bears. Rams general manager Les Snead and Bears general manager Phil Emery both worked under Dimitroff for the Falcons.
Injury report: Maponga had surgery in March to repair the fifth metatarsal in his left foot.
“I will be ready for rookie minicamp,” Maponga said. “I have another checkup this coming week. I have a visit with the doctor of Monday. He can let me know what’s going on better. Rehab has been great. I’m doing what I need to do to come back 10 times better.”
He suffered the injury in a game against Baylor in October.
The Falcons have heavily scouted the TCU program in recent years. They were interested in Daryl Washington and Jerry Hughes, who were selected in the 2010 draft. Maponga was projected as a defensive end and a linebacker by some NFL teams.
“The Atlanta Falcons want me to play defensive end, so I’m ready for that,” Maponga said.”I’m ready to come there and show off my skills for them.”
Toilolo's tutor: Falcons fourth-round pick Levine Toilolo, a tight end from Stanford, is looking forward to being mentored by Cal product Tony Gonzalez.
“It’s just going to be like being a freshman again,” Toilolo said. “Hopefully, I don’t get too annoying to him, but I’m going to ask as many questions as I can and just kind of shadow him as much as I can.”
Predraft contact: The Falcons worked out defensive end Malliciah Goodman in Clemson and brought him in for a visit. Dimitroff attended his workout. The Falcons drafted Goodman with their first pick Saturday, in the fourth round.
“When Atlanta worked me out, it was actually their strength coaches,” Goodman said. “They took me through a bunch of agility things, backpedaling and all that stuff. The workout went great.”
Two weeks after the workout he visited the team’s facilities.
Toilolo visited only the Falcons and the 49ers.
“I got to know some of the coaches and the personnel, the staff around there,” Toilolo said. “I got a chance to visit the facilities. I loved it out there.”
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