{"id":872669,"date":"2026-04-23T10:57:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T10:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/872669\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T10:57:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T10:57:17","slug":"why-the-falcons-dont-have-a-round-1-pick-in-2026-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/872669\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Falcons don’t have a Round 1 pick in 2026 NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why the Falcons don’t have a Round 1 pick in 2026 NFL Draft<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Atlanta fans have not had much to cheer for in recent years, with eight consecutive losing seasons.<\/p>\n

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Sometimes this allows teams the benefit of an early round pick to turn the tide. But for the Falcons<\/a>, there is no first-round pick at all. After a trade during last season’s draft, the Falcons are unable to select in this year’s first round.<\/p>\n

The Falcons have seen gradual improvement, with last season being their second consecutive 8-9 campaign. This means that, while they didn’t know at the time which pick number was moving, it is now revealed to be No. 13.<\/p>\n

Here are the exact details on why the Falcons don’t have a first-round pick and who they traded up for a year ago.<\/p>\n

NFL DRAFT RANKINGS 2026:QBs<\/a> |\u00a0WRs<\/a>\u00a0| TEs<\/a>\u00a0| EDGE<\/a>\u00a0| RBs<\/a><\/p>\n

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Falcons draft picks 2026<\/p>\n

The Falcons have five picks in the 2026 NFL Draft:<\/p>\n

Round<\/p>\n

Pick<\/p>\n

2<\/p>\n

48<\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

79<\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

122 (from PHI)<\/p>\n

6<\/p>\n

215 (compensatory, from PHI)<\/p>\n

7<\/p>\n

231<\/p>\n

This draft is looking sparse for the Falcons, with only five picks to make across all seven rounds. The front office will have two chances to make a selection on Day 2, with plenty of high-upside options still on the board at that time.<\/p>\n

After an up-and-down season in Atlanta<\/a>, this is not the ideal draft positioning, but the Falcons are still capable of emerging with picks who can contribute.<\/p>\n

MORE 2026 NFL MOCK DRAFTS:<\/p>\n

Why don’t the Falcons have a first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft?<\/p>\n

During last year’s draft, the Falcons traded up with the Rams<\/a> to draft James Pearce Jr.<\/a> at No. 26. In return, they gave up this year’s first-round pick. The full trade details are:<\/p>\n

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Atlanta Falcons<\/a> received: 2025 No. 26 overall pick, 2025 No. 101 overall pick.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Rams received: 2026 first-rounder (now No. 13), 2025 No. 46 pick, 2025 No. 242 pick<\/p>\n

Because of this exchange, the Rams will take the Falcons’ place on Thursday, with Atlanta left until Friday to make their first selection<\/p>\n

MORE: What are the legal charges facing James Pearce Jr?<\/a><\/p>\n

When is the Falcons’ first draft pick?<\/p>\n

The Falcons’ first draft choice is in the second round, at No. 48 overall. Barring any last-minute trades up or down, this will be the Falcons’ first opportunity to bolster their roster for next season.<\/p>\n

With only five total picks in this year’s draft, the Falcons will have a tall task in maximizing the value of each pick.<\/p>\n

MORE NFL DRAFT NEWS:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Why the Falcons don’t have a Round 1 pick in 2026 NFL Draft originally appeared on The Sporting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":872670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[223,254,2554,224,2557,7,703,6,424,2661],"class_list":{"0":"post-872669","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-falcons","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-falcons","10":"tag-atlantafalcons","11":"tag-falcons","12":"tag-falcons-draft-picks","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-james-pearce-jr","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-rams","17":"tag-the-falcons"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116453667258462710","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}