Falcons take Iowa edge rusher in Sports Illustrated mock draft
It’s mock draft season, which is the favorite time of year for some fans.
In the latest mock draft from Kevin Hanson of Sports Illustrated, he has the Falcons selecting Iowa edge rusher AJ Epenesa with the No. 16 pick. The junior defensive tackle recorded 11.5 sacks (T-11th in Division I), 49 tackles, which were both career highs and 4 tackles for loss which tied a career-high. The 6-foot-6, 280-pound defensive lineman would fill a huge need for the Falcons.
Here is SI’s reasoning behind the draft pick.
“Only the Dolphins (23) had fewer sacks this season than the Falcons (28), who have announced they will move on from Vic Beasley (team-high 8.0 sacks). While not the most explosive off the line, Epenesa possesses a nice blend of power, length, and heavy hands and closed 2019 with eight sacks and four forced fumbles over his final five games.”
The Falcons recently took two defensive ends in the last five years in Vic Beasley and Takkarist McKinley. Neither one has really worked out in their favor, the team recently announced that they going to move on from Beasley and McKinley is on the last year of his rookie deal.
As mentioned before the team only had 28 sacks on the season, so they will need to bolster their defensive line whether it is a tackle or an edge rusher.
The last time the Falcons had the No. 16 pick in the draft was 1983 when they selected Alabama defensive end, Mike Pitts.
