The Falcons need a lot of help. They have needs at pretty much every position. The offensive line is bad and most of the time, the defense cant stop anyone. Perhaps most pressing, however, is their need for quality defensive backs.
The Falcons have a solid, young safety duo with Damontae Kazee and Keanu Neal (when healthy) so they're probably pretty good at that position. Despite that, why do the Falcons have the 26th ranked pass defense in the NFL? Cornerback could be to blame.
Cornerback Desmond Trufant was a Pro Bowler in 2015 but has yet to play up to the same level since. If the Falcons want to fix their porous pass defense, Ohio State cornerback Jeff Okudah should be a consideration in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Okudah, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound junior cornerback is for many, the top defensive back in the 2020 NFL Draft class.
An absolute ballhawk, Okudah has three interceptions and two forced fumbles for the Buckeyes this year. Combined with solid size and some of the best footwork of any defensive back in the class, the junior has the chance to develop into a lockdown corner for years to come.
I'm certainly not alone in this thought as one NFL scout compared Okudah to Los Angeles Rams star Jalen Ramsey in October. He has shown excellent man-to-man coverage skills and elite body control throughout the season. While he still needs some work in zone coverage situations, his natural abilities should help him get past those shortcomings at first.
Simply put, Jeff Okudah is an athletic freak and cornerbacks with his mixture of size and athletic ability don't come around often. There's a good reason he's projected to be an early-first-round draft pick.
In a conference with receivers like Michael Thomas, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and D.J. Moore — you're going to need elite cornerback talent to succeed and Atlanta simply doesn't have that.
The Falcons are currently projected as the No. 5 pick in the upcoming draft and for a team with a lot of needs, there's a lot of ways this pick could be used. Nevertheless, when you get the chance to take a big, athletic cornerback with strong ball skills, you have to at least consider it.
The Falcons defense won't be automatically fixed with Okudah on the roster, but you have to start somewhere. Getting safety Keanu Neal back from to full strength will certainly help but in a pass-happy league, you better have the personnel in order to stop the pass.
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