Curtis Lofton doesn’t have great measureables but he is a fantastic football player who should make a big impact on the defense of the Falcons eventually.  He’s behind Keith Brooking on the depth chart so he might just get some table scraps as a rookie unless he plays a little bit on the outside.  Lofton stands at 6′0″, 240 pounds and he runs a 4.7 40 but he’s field fast.  He played in 38 games (18 starts) in his career at Oklahoma and he made 192 tackles, 17.5 tackles for a loss, had 1 sack, broke up 5 passes and intercepted 3 others.  Lofton will be a player that the Falcons can build their defense around in the future and he’s a good special teams player.  This was a good pick for the rebuilding Falcons.

The Atlanta Falcons traded up to draft someone to watch Matt Ryan’s back and that would be Sam Baker from USC.  Baker will battle Renardo Foster for the left tackle job in training camp but he should leave him in the dust.  Baker is not a mauler despite being 6′5″, 308 pounds but he is effective at pass blocking as he only allowed 1 sack in his career at USC.  Baker started all 49 games that he played in at USC during his 4-year career.  This was a solid pick for the Falcons as they continue to retool the offensive line.

The Falcons decided to distance themselves from the circus revolving around Michael Vick by drafted a QB to build the offense around in Matt Ryan.  Ryan is a big guy at 6′4″, 221 pounds and he has just enough speed (4.75 40) to escape trouble in the pocket.  He has a strong arm and he keeps his eyes focused downfield in the face of the pass rush.  Ryan played in 40 games (32 starts) at Boston College and he completed 807 of 1,347 passes (59.9%) for 9,313 yards with 56 TD passes and 37 interceptions.  Ryan will head into training camp as the #3 QB but he will likely outplay both Chris Redman and Joey Harrington in the pre season which will make Falcons’ management have to make a tough decision of either letting Ryan watch from the sideline or take his lumps as the starter.  Regardless on if he starts this season or not, the Falcons made a great pick here.