Atlanta Falcons Take Best Safety or Best WR in New Brugler NFL Mock Draft?

Atlanta is picking above the tier.

The best safety? Or the best wide receiver?

The benefit of picking in the No. 8 slot in the NFL Draft - even though it was painful getting there - is the opportunity to quite possibly land a blue-chip player.

Scouts will tell you that in a normal year, they will have 15 to 18 "first-round grades'' on players. That doesn't mean that there won't be 32 first-round picks ... but the guys in the second half of the first round won't be as highly-regard.

There is a drop-off, a tier.

Atlanta is picking above the tier.

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In Dane Brugler's new NFL Mock Draft, and The Athletic's draft expert pegs to the Falcons at pick No. 8 overall the Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton. Brugler writes: "Last year in his first draft as the Falcons general manager, Terry Fontenot stuck to the best-player-available strategy and drafted Kyle Pitts, which was an immediate home run for the Falcons’ offense. 

"If Fontenot follows the same philosophy this year, Hamilton’s athleticism, intelligence and versatility could be too enticing to pass up.''

The "best-available-athlete'' ("B.A.A.'', as we like to call it) is fairly fail-safe. But you would ideally like that B.A.A. to also match with a team need.

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That works with Hamilton. But Brugler wisely hedges his bet a bit (it is after all early in this pre-April process) and also notes, "A wide receiver like Ohio State’s Garrett Wilson also makes a lot of sense here, especially with the recent Calvin Ridley news.''

Ridley is out of football for a year due to his NFL gambling. Russell Gage is also free. So receiver ... safety? As long as he's blue-chip, there is no wrong answer.