FLOWERY BRANCH — Falcons coach Mike Smith said he wanted to add explosive players on offense.
He wasn’t kidding.
The Falcons stole the show early in Thursday’s NFL draft by mortgaging a bushel of draft picks to move up 21 spots in the first round to select former Alabama wide receiver Julio Jones.
Falcons switched first-round picks this year with the Cleveland Browns. They also sent this year’s second- and fourth-round picks to the Browns and next year’s first- and fourth-round picks.
“It was an aggressive and bold move to trade up for a player that we believe truly adds the explosiveness that we are looking for on this team,” Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff said. “We feel that Julio is a fine addition to our offense. We think that he’ll help provide Matt [Ryan] with the tools we need going forward.”
The Falcons had been considering the move for more than a month. They even looked into getting up to the second pick, but nothing was feasible.
Over the final 48 hours before the draft, they knew that the sixth or the seventh pick was attainable. All that remained was to settle on the compensation and get comfortable parting with so many valuable picks. Dimitroff has stressed building the team through the draft, so parting with picks appears to run counter to that philosophy.
The Falcons plan to couple Jones with Pro Bowl wide receiver Roddy White, who led the NFL in catches with 115 last season.
“They are not going to be able to defend us the way they have defended us in the past,” Smith said.
Jones is looking forward to the challenge.
“I’m just going in and try to take some pressure off of Roddy White,” Jones said. “When I went through the interview with Atlanta, they showed me a couple of plays where the safety was rolling over to double Roddy White. I just want to come in and take some pressure off him and make those guys play him one-on-one.”
Tight end Tony Gonzalez was the team’s second leading receiver last season. Michael Jenkins has been the starter opposite White. He’ll now be in a battle for his job.
Also, the Falcons have wide receivers Harry Douglas, Eric Weems, Kerry Meier, Tim Buckley, Andy Strickland and Brandyn Harvey on the roster.
Normally, the Falcons could have retained some of their picks and included players in a deal, but because of the current labor situation, they were not allowed to include players.
“That’s been the most innovating side of this because you are obviously trying to come up with compensation that is fair,” Dimitroff said. “You had to really drill down and become that much more focused on how you were going to put together the compensation package.”
Jones was a three-year starter for the Crimson Tide.
“I’m just grateful for what [the Falcons] did, to trade up to get me,” Jones said. “I really can’t explain it right now. I feel like they have a lot of trust in me. I’m not going to disappoint.”
Jones has been known to make the acrobatic catch and then occasionally drop an easy catch. “I’m not ashamed,” Jones said. “I play very hard. If I drop a ball, I drop a ball. But I had to teach myself to slow down. Play fast, but don’t hurry. I usually would just take my eyes off the ball while I was trying to make a play.”
He is very familiar with the Georgia Dome from playing in the SEC championship game after the 2009 season.
“Just the atmosphere there, playing under those lights, I loved it,” Jones said.
The draft experience was emotionally tough for Jones, who is from Foley, Ala. He still has several friends in Tuscaloosa, which was severely hit Wednesday by a tornado.
“I was hoping that nobody was injured,” Jones said. “Unfortunately some people were hurt and killed. One of my teammates, Carson Tinker, got involved with the tornado. It killed his girlfriend and broke his arm.”
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