Falcons reportedly tried to trade up for Redskins No. 2 pick to get Chase Young

The Atlanta Falcons tried to move up to acquire the No. 2 overall pick from the Washington Redskins to select Chase Young. But the Redskins wouldn’t do it.

Thomas Dimitroff and the Atlanta Falcons front office have a history of being aggressive during the NFL Draft. Back in 2011, they unloaded five picks to move up from No. 27 to No. 6 to select Julio Jones out of Alabama. That move panned out as Jones became a top-tier receiver for the Falcons.

This year, they were apparently trying to work their magic again. But the Washington Redskins wouldn’t let it happen.

According to Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer, the Falcons have been aggressively trying to move up this week, and that included making a call to the Redskins. Their efforts to get the No. 2 pick and select Chase Young have been rebuffed to this point.

This makes a lot of sense. Unless the Falcons were able to move up once and then move up again to get to the No. 2 spot, it’s hard to imagine the Redskins having much interest in falling that low in the draft. The Falcons have the 16th pick, don’t possess multiple first-round picks, and surely would need to get at least a future first and maybe another second plus more to move up. And even then, it still may not be worth it.

At the 16th spot, the Redskins would possibly be in range to land a Big 4 tackle or one of the top-three receivers. But it wouldn’t be a guarantee. Maybe they’d land a guy like Kenneth Murray and maybe C.J. Henderson would be on the board. But it would be a significant drop in the draft’s pecking order and losing out on Chase Young at that cost doesn’t sound like it’s worth it.

The Falcons seem more likely to leapfrog into the back-end of the top-10 if they can. That would position them to nab a falling talent on defense and add a corner like Henderson, a defensive tackle like Javon Kinlaw, or maybe even a linebacker/safety like Isaiah Simmons if he slips to the 9-12 range, which I think is possible. But moving up to No. 2 would just simply cost too much for the team to pull off.

There’s still an outside chance that the Redskins could trade the No. 2 pick. It would just have to be for a package better than what the Falcons could offer. Could the Dolphins or Chargers want to move up? Maybe that’s something that the Redskins would consider. But given that Ron Rivera‘s Panthers teams never traded down in the first round during his nine-year tenure with the team, it seems more likely that he’ll want to stay put at No. 2 and kick off his Redskins tenure by selecting the best player on the board.

We’ll find out soon enough what the Redskins end up doing. Just don’t expect them to trade with the Falcons in a deal involving the 16th pick.