Unfortunately for Falcons fans the wait will be long as the NFL draft kicks off a little over a week from now. The excitement of the 2011 draft that brought WR Julio Jones to Atlanta has now been replaced with stark realization that the 55th pick is painfully far away.
Fear not Falcon faithful- just because you need to wait until the wee hours of Friday night to hear Atlanta's first pick doesn't mean there aren't some gems to be had. Over the next few days we'll be looking at the 2007-2011 draft to see who was taken at no.55, and who was missed out on. Today we head back to 2007 where the Seattle Seahawks were on the clock.
"With the fifty-fifth pick in the two-thousand and seven NFL Draft the Seattle Seahawks select- Josh Wilson, cornerback, Maryland."
Okay, so maybe this isn't be best pick to kick this off with. Wilson, now with the Redskins was thought to be one of the better CBs in the draft. However a combination of back coaching, an ineffective system and poor play led him to leave the Pacific Northwest just two years after arriving in the NFL. For what it's worth- Wilson started all sixteen games for Washington last year, but nevertheless he never really worked out for Seattle.
It should have been: C Ryan Kalil (Panthers- picked 59th)
Had the Seahawks listened to the best-player-available philosophy they would have wound up with the Carolina Panthers' All-Pro center Ryan Kalil. Regarded as one of the finest interior linemen in the NFL Kalil has ensured rookie QB Cam Newton had a clean pocket, and would have worked wonders for Matt Flynn in Seattle this season. This was a classic case of not seeing the forest for the trees.
Tomorrow we'll look at the 2008 draft, and how that class' #55 pick faired when they reached the next level.