The Atlanta Falcons, a professional American football team based in Atlanta, are part of the National Football Conference South Division. They joined the National Football League (NFL) as an expansion team for the 1966 season and became the first NFL franchise in the Southeastern United States. They first participated in the 1966 NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting, more commonly known as the NFL draft. In the NFL Draft, each NFL franchise annually seeks to add new players to its roster. Teams are ranked in reverse order based on the previous season's record, with the worst record picking first, the second-worst picking second and so on. The two exceptions to this order are made for teams that appeared in the previous Super Bowl; the Super Bowl champion always picks 32nd, and the Super Bowl loser always picks 31st. Teams have the option of trading away their picks to other teams for different picks, players, cash, or a combination thereof. Thus, it is not uncommon for a team's actual draft pick to differ from their assigned draft pick, or for a team to have extra or no draft picks in any round due to these trades.

In their first draft, the Falcons had two picks in the first round. These selections were Tommy Nobis, a linebacker from Texas, and Randy Johnson, a quarterback from Texas A&I. The Falcons have selected number one overall four times: Tommy Nobis, Steve Bartkowski, Aundray Bruce, and Michael Vick. The team has also selected number two overall three times and number three overall two times. The Falcons have selected players from Florida State University four times, the most from any university. The team's most recent first-round selections were Jalon Walker, a linebacker from the University of Georgia, and James Pearce Jr., an edge rusher from the University of Tennessee.

Key +Table key^ Indicates the player was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. * Selected number one overall— The Falcons did not draft a player in the first round that year.Year Each year links to an article about that particular NFL Draft.Pick Indicates the number of the pick within the first roundPosition Indicates the position of the player in the NFLCollege The player's college football team

Player selections

+Atlanta Falcons first-round draft picksSeasonPickPlayer namePositionCollegeNotes 1966 * Linebacker Texas 1966 Quarterback Texas A&M–Kingsville 1967— — No pick — — 1968 Claude Humphrey^ Defensive end Tennessee State 1969 Offensive tackle Notre Dame 1970 Linebacker The Citadel 1971 Running back Louisiana–Monroe 1972 Safety Notre Dame 1973— — No pick — — 1974— — No pick — — 1975 * Quarterback California 1976 Running back Texas A&M 1977 Offensive tackle Kentucky 1977 Defensive tackle San Jose State 1978 Offensive tackle Michigan 1979 Defensive end Miami (FL) 1980 Tight end Nebraska 1981 Cornerback Florida State 1982 Running back Arizona State 1983 Defensive end Alabama 1984 Defensive tackle Oklahoma 1985 Offensive tackle Pittsburgh 1986 Defensive tackle Oklahoma 1986 Linebacker Syracuse 1987 Quarterback Oregon 1988 * Linebacker Auburn 1989 5 Deion Sanders^ CB Florida State 1989 Wide receiver Northern Arizona 1990 Running back Washington State 1991 Cornerback Nebraska 1991 Wide receiver Colorado 1992 Offensive tackle Stanford 1992 Running back Southern Miss 1993 Offensive tackle Washington 1994— — No pick — — 1995 Safety Florida State 1996— — No pick — — 1997 Cornerback Nebraska 1998 Linebacker Georgia Tech 1999 Defensive end Virginia 2000— — No pick — — 2001 * Quarterback Virginia Tech 2002 Running back Michigan State 2003— — No pick — — 2004 Cornerback Virginia Tech 2004 Wide receiver Ohio State 2005 Wide receiver UAB 2006— — No pick — — 2007 Defensive end Arkansas 2008 Quarterback Boston College 2008 Offensive tackle USC 2009 Defensive tackle Ole Miss 2010 Linebacker Missouri 2011 Wide receiver Alabama 2012— — No pick — — 2013 Cornerback Washington 2014 Offensive tackle Texas A&M 2015 Outside linebacker Clemson 2016 Strong Safety Florida 2017 Defensive end UCLA 2018 Wide receiver Alabama 2019 Offensive guard Boston College 2019 Offensive tackle Washington 2020 Cornerback Clemson 2021 Tight end Florida 2022 Wide receiver USC 2023 Running backTexas 2024 QuarterbackWashington 2025 Linebacker Georgia 2025 Defensive end Tennessee 2026— — No pick — —

Footnotes

The Falcons traded the #3 overall pick of the 1967 draft to the San Francisco 49ers for wide receiver Bernie Casey, offensive tackle Jim Wilson, and defensive end Jim Norton. The Falcons traded their #14 overall pick to the Houston Oilers for defensive tackle Mike Tilleman. The Falcons traded their #17 overall pick to the Minnesota Vikings along with quarterback Bob Berry for quarterback Bob Lee and linebacker Lonnie Warwick. The Falcons traded their #3 overall pick along with offensive tackle George Kunz to Baltimore Colts for the Colts' first and sixth-round picks. The Falcons acquired this pick from the St. Louis Cardinals. The Falcons traded their #4 overall pick along with a third-round pick to the Minnesota Vikings for the #2 overall pick. The Falcons traded their 1985 second-round pick and 1986 second-round pick to the Washington Redskins for the Redskins' 1985 second-round pick and the #17 overall pick in 1986. The Falcons acquired this pick from the Cincinnati Bengals for the second, fourth, and tenth-round picks. The Falcons traded their #1 overall pick to the Indianapolis Colts for the Colts' fifth-round pick in 1990, #13 overall pick in 1991, wide receiver Andre Rison, and offensive tackle Chris Hinton. The Falcons acquired this pick from the Washington Redskins. The Falcons acquired this pick from the New England Patriots. The Falcons traded their #7 overall pick along with the third-round pick in 1994 and the #19 overall pick in 1996 to the Indianapolis Colts for quarterback Jeff George. The Falcons traded their #10 overall pick to the Cleveland Browns for the #26 pick and running back Eric Metcalf.

The Falcons acquired this pick along with the second, third, and fourth-round picks from the Seattle Seahawks for the #11 overall pick along with the third-round pick. The Falcons traded their #5 overall pick to the Baltimore Ravens for the 1999 second-round pick. The Falcons traded their #5 overall pick along with wide receiver Tim Dwight, the 2002 second and 2001 third-round picks to the San Diego Chargers for the #1 overall pick. The Falcons traded their #17 overall pick to the Oakland Raiders for the #18 overall pick and the fifth-round pick. The Falcons traded their #23 overall pick to the Buffalo Bills for wide receiver Peerless Price. The Falcons traded their second, third, and fourth-round picks to the Indianapolis Colts for the #29 overall and third-round picks. The Falcons traded their #15 overall pick to the Denver Broncos for the #29 overall, third-round and a 2007 fourth-round picks. The Falcons then traded the #29 overall pick to the New York Jets for defensive end John Abraham. The Falcons traded their #10 overall pick and quarterback Matt Schaub to the Houston Texans for the #8 overall, second-round, and 2008 second-round picks. The Falcons traded two second-round picks and a fourth-round pick to the Washington Redskins for the #21 overall pick along with the third and fifth-round picks. The Falcons traded their #27 overall pick along with second-round, fourth-round and a 2012 first-round and fourth-round picks to the Cleveland Browns for the #6 overall pick . The Falcons traded their #30 overall pick along with third- (92nd), and sixth- (198th) round selections to the St. Louis Rams in exchange for St. Louis 2013 #22nd overall pick along with a 7th-round selection. The Falcons traded their #31 overall pick along with third- (95th), and seventh- (249th) round selections to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for Seattle's 2017 #26th overall pick. The Falcons traded picks #45(second round) and #79 (third round) to the Los Ángeles Rams. In exchange, the Falcons got the Rams' #31 and #203 (sixth round) Picks Atlanta traded a first-round selection (13th overall), and 2025 second- and seventh-round selections to the LA Rams in exchange for 2025 first- and third-round selections.

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