List of Atlanta Falcons first-round draft picks

The Atlanta Falcons, a professional American football team based in Atlanta, Georgia, 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. [cite book|last=Goodman|first=Michael E.|title=The History of the Atlanta Falcons |publisher=The Creative Company|date=2004|isbn=1583412875|pages=p.1968|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=0MgGfj43YMkC&printsec=frontcover#PPA1968,M1|accessdate=2008-06-30] They first participated in the 1966 NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting, more commonly known as the NFL Draft. [cite news|last=Branch |first=John |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4191/is_20000409/ai_n9969057 |title=The 2000 Liars Club/ Draft makes Broncos coach cloak intentions |publisher=findarticles.com |work=Colorado Springs Gazette |date= 2000-04-09| accessdate=2008-06-29] 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. [cite web|url=http://football.about.com/od/miscinformation/a/detdraftorder.htm| last = Alder | first = James | title = "NFL Draft Basics:Determining Order of Selection" | work = football.about.com | accessdate=2008-06-29]

In their first draft, the Falcons had two picks in the first round. [cite web|url=http://www.atlantafalcons.com/People/Alumni/Timeline.aspx|title=Timeline 1960's|work=Atlanta Falcons|accessdate=2008-07-11] 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 and the University of Nebraska three times each, the most from any university. The team's most recent first-round selections were Matt Ryan from Boston College and Sam Baker from University of Southern California. [cite web | work=National Football League | url=http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/fulldraft?teamId=0200&type=roundbyteam | title=NFL Draft History: First Round by Team: Atlanta Falcons | accessdate=2008-06-30]

Player selections

Footnotes

*note label|Note01|a|a The Falcons traded their #7 overall pick to the San Francisco 49ers for wide receiver Bernie Casey, offensive tackle Jim Wilson, and defensive end Jim Norton.cite web|url=http://www.atlantafalcons.com/People/Alumni/Trades.aspx|title=Trade History|work=Atlanta Falcons|accessdate=2008-06-25]
*note label|Note02|b|b The Falcons traded their #14 overall pick to the Houston Oilers for defensive tackle Mike Tilleman.
*note label|Note03|c|c The Falcons traded their #17 overall pick to the Minnesota Vikings along with quarterback Bob Berry for quarterback Bob Lee and linebacker Lonnie Warwick.
*note label|Note04|d|d The Falcons traded their #3 overall pick along with offensive tackle George Kunz to Baltimore Colts for the Colts' first and sixth-round picks.
*note label|Note05|e|e The Falcons acquired this pick from the St. Louis Cardinals. [cite web|url=http://www.profootballhof.com/history/general/draft/1977.jsp |title= Pro Football Draft History 1977 |publisher=Pro Football Hall of Fame official Web site |accessdate=2008-06-25]
*note label|Note06|f|f The Falcons traded their #4 overall pick along with a third-round pick to the Minnesota Vikings for the #2 overall pick.
*note label|Note07|g|g 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.
*note label|Note08|h|h The Falcons acquired this pick from the Cincinnati Bengals for the second, fourth, and tenth-round picks.
*note label|Note09|i|i 1note label|Note09|i|2 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.
*note label|Note10|j|j The Falcons acquired this pick from the Washington Redskins. [cite web|url=http://www.profootballhof.com/history/general/draft/1990.jsp |title= Pro Football Draft History 1990 |publisher=Pro Football Hall of Fame official Web site |accessdate=2008-07-01]
*note label|Note11|k|k The Falcons acquired this pick from the New England Patriots. [cite web|url=http://www.profootballhof.com/history/general/draft/1992.jsp |title= Pro Football Draft History 1992 |publisher=Pro Football Hall of Fame official Web site |accessdate=2008-07-01]
*note label|Note12|l|l 1note label|Note12|l|2 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.
*note label|Note13|m|m The Falcons traded their #10 overall pick to the Cleveland Browns for the #26 pick and running back Eric Metcalf.
*note label|Note14|n|n 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.
*note label|Note15|o|o The Falcons traded their #5 overall pick to the Baltimore Ravens for the 1999 second-round pick.
*note label|Note16|p|p 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. [cite web| url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/2001/draft/news/2001/04/20/falcons_toppick_ap/|title=Birds flap to the top|date=2001-04-20| work=Associated Press|publisher=CNN/Sports Illustrated|accessdate=2008-07-04]
*note label|Note17|q|q The Falcons traded their #17 overall pick to the Oakland Raiders for the #18 overall pick and the fifth-round pick.
*note label|Note18|r|r The Falcons traded their #23 overall pick to the Buffalo Bills for wide receiver Peerless Price. [cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE6DD1E3FF93BA35750C0A9659C8B63|title=Bills Trade Price and Make Offer to the Bengals' Spikes|last=Hack|first=Damon|date=2003-03-08|publisher=The New York Times|accessdate=2008-07-04]
*note label|Note19|s|s The Falcons traded their second, third, and fourth-round picks to the Indianapolis Colts for the #29 overall and third-round picks.
*note label|Note20|t|t 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. [cite web|url=http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2378875|title=Falcons send pick to Denver to get Abraham from Jets|last=Pasquarelli|first=Len|date=2006-03-23|publisher=ESPN.com|accessdate=2008-07-04]
*note label|Note21|u|u 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. [cite web | last = Pasquarelli | first = Len| title = Falcons agree to deal backup QB Schaub to Houston | publisher = ESPN.com | date = 2007-03-22 | url = http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2807051 | accessdate = 2008-06-28 ]
*note label|Note22|v|v 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. [cite web|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/04/26/ST2008042602716.html|title=A Show of Hands for Redskins|author=Jason Reid and Jason La Canfora|date=2008-04-27|publisher=The Washington Post|accessdate=2008-06-28]

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