Report: Falcons expected to aggressively pursue trade into top-five of NFL Draft

Is Chase Young in a Falcons uniform a pipe dream for next season? What about Isaiah Simmons or Jeff Okudah? ESPN's Chris Mortensen is reporting Atlanta could attempt to move up and snatch one of those prospects Thursday.

The only certainty about the Atlanta Falcons in the 2020 NFL Draft is that nothing is certain.

Several different players at several different positions have been rumored targets for Atlanta, and the Falcons’ name has been thrown around in trade discussions, too.

This continued Monday.

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported the Falcons are expected to be the most aggressive team in the draft and could even try to push their way from the No. 16 pick into the top five.

Chris Mortensen just reported on ESPN that the #Falcons are expected to be the most aggressive team in the draft and could even move into the top-5. Wow.

— Matt Karoly (@mattkaroly) April 20, 2020

This would not be out of the ordinary for general manager Thomas Dimitroff, who is known for his draft-day coups. His most notable work was moving up more than 20 picks to select Julio Jones in 2011.

ESPN’s @mortreport speculating that #Falcons could be most aggressive team in the draft, move up into top-5 for CB. pic.twitter.com/XHQeBkakpX

— Evan Birchfield (@EvanBirchfield) April 20, 2020

This year, a trade up would indicate a run at one of the three most highly regarded defensive prospects — Ohio State edge rusher Chase Young or cornerback Jeff Okudah, or Clemson linebacker Isaiah Simmons.

Atlanta has holes at all of those players’ respective positions.

After cutting top corner Desmond Trufant last month, the Falcons remain in search of a No. 1 corner to plug their largest roster hole. Okudah would fill that, but he’s been predicted to go as high as the third pick currently held by the Detroit Lions.

A trade would eat a lot of Atlanta’s future draft capital, but with the way this offseason is going, this is a make-or-break year for the Falcons. By maneuvering around salary cap woes to sign players like Todd Gurley and Dante Fowler Jr., they’re prioritizing a go-for-it-now attitude over the future.