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The Atlanta Falcons have some interesting work to do in the offseason as they attempt to get back into the NFC Championship game next year and hope to break through this time to the Super Bowl. Tight end Tony Gonzalez is not officially retired, and his decision will definitely have a great impact on the Falcons draft. Atlanta also must address their pass rushing issues and many will look for the Falcons to check out a defensive end like Alex Okafor.
But do the Falcons also need to address the safety position? At least one mock drafter thinks so.
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While Matthew Fairburn of our very own SBNation went an entirely different direction and mocked running back Giovani Bernard to Atlanta recently, Dane Brugler of CBS Sports was even more outside of the box. He was so far out of the box, he was deep in the secondary where the safeties roam, and mocked SS Jonathan Cyprien of Florida International to the Falcons with the 30th overall pick:
While Tony Gonzalez's retirement decision could determine whether the Falcons look at tight end here, so could the decision by the Falcons to bring back safety William Moore or let him test free agency. If he walks, Cyprien might be able to step in and fill his shoes as a rookie.
What we must make note of is that in this scenario, Atlanta must let Moore test free agency. Reports currently circle around Moore as the most likely player that the Falcons would use the franchise tag on. Moore has been the main starter at SS for the Falcons over the past three years and was their second round pick in 2009. It would seem like it's in the Falcon's best interest to keep Moore around, so it seems as a reach right now to project Cyprien to Atlanta hinging on the condition of Moore being allowed to leave. What it does instead is give Brugler an opportunity to mock an entirely different player to Atlanta than what most are doing and likely switching his opinion to another player next week.
No offense to Cyprien, who is seeing his stock rise and who a number of people see as a solid bet to be a first round pick -- it's just far too early to say that he'd replace on the Falcons best players on defense.