With the start of the NFL scouting combine on Tuesday, this will be a busy week for the Falcons.
Here are five things to know about the Falcons on Monday:
1. Combine starts. The Falcons will be on hand to scout the more than 300 players, which includes 10 invitees from Georgia's national runner-up team. The Falcons will focus on improving the offensive and defensive lines. Coach Dan Quinn is set to speak to the media at 10 a.m. and Thomas Dimitroff at 1 p.m. on Wednesday.
2. Short-yardage offense to be hot topic. Also, the Falcons short-yardage offense will be a hot topic this offseason. The Falcons didn't do a enough to improve their short-yardage package last season even after throwing the ball on third-and-1 in the Super Bowl. Their problems in short-yardage continued and were a factor in the poor red-zone numbers. On a team that preaches toughness and brotherhood, the Falcons have come up short when they need to power the ball at defenses. No one wants to see another Jet Sweep on the 1-yard line.
3. Post career planning. Several Falcons met for a two-day seminar on Thursday and Friday to start planing for the post-NFL careers.
4. Cheerleading tryouts. The Falcons' cheerleader are holding two more preparation classes before the tryouts are held on April 8.
5. Compensatory pick. The Falcons were awarded an additional seventh-round pick through the compensatory pick process. The Falcons lost Patrick DiMarco, Tom Compton, Paul Worrilow, Aldrick Robinson and Eric Weems in 2017, but signed Jack Crawford, Dontari Poe and Andre Roberts. Compensatory free agents are determined by a formula based on salary, playing time and postseason honors. Not every free agent lost or signed by a club is covered by this formula. The Falcons have the 26th pick overall in the draft, which will be held April 26-28 in Arlington, Texas. The Falcons now have seven picks in the upcoming draft. They traded their fifth-round pick (154) to Denver for offensive tackle Ty Sambrailo on Sept. 1, 2017.
Here are the Falcons’ projected picks: second round (58 overall), third round (90), fourth round (122), sixth round (186) and seventh round (218) and (256).
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