Texas DL Byron Murphy may be a top 10 pick, Falcons a possibility, per Daniel Jeremiah

Well-respected draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah believes he’s a potential top 10 pick.

For weeks, perhaps months, the course for the Falcons has felt pretty clear at pick No. 8. If you’re truly married to getting the best player available, perhaps you consider a top tier wide receiver, but there figures to be a high-end pass rusher or cornerback at that pick and the means to get that player. There’s a reason Dallas Turner has been a popular mock draft selection for a long time now; the team’s needs and his ability align.

But for all that smooth pre-draft narrative to this point, the actual pick is an unknown, and the Falcons could always throw us a knee-buckling curveball at the last moment. NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah, one of the more respected insider when it comes to all things draft, hinted that Atlanta might have one of those ready to roll next week.

The player in question? Texas defensive lineman Byron Murphy, widely considered one of the best (or outright the best) interior options in a class not exactly brimming with them. Generally he’s ranked anywhere from just outside the top ten to the back half of the first round, but Jeremiah believes Murphy may wind up being one of the first ten players selected.

Raheem Morris is well aware of the importance of having a strong defensive interior with one really good player serving as a differentiator, as he’s coached a dominant player in three of his past four coaching stops between Tampa Bay (Gerald McCoy), Atlanta (Grady Jarrett, especially young Jarrett), and Aaron Donald. If the Falcons think Murphy can be anywhere near that kind of player, they may view the opportunity to land him as an irresistible one, given that their defensive interior today is highlighted by players on the wrong side of 30 (Grady Jarrett, David Onyemata, Eddie Goldman) and younger rotational options (LaCale London, Ta’Quon Graham). Remember, 2023 Rams third round pick Kobie Turner was a breakout player in Morris’s defense last year, and while he and Murphy are different players with 20 pounds difference between them, Morris was able to effectively utilize a young defensive lineman to the tune of nine sacks. If he loves Murphy, he may be tempted to try that again, possibly turning this line into a legitimate problem in the process.

And it’s not particularly difficult to see how a team might fall in love with him. Murphy’s lack of size is a knock I see in scouting reports, but he’s listed as the same height and a few pounds heavier than Jarrett, a player who was called “undersized” but is generally recognized as one of the better defensive tackles in the NFL over the past decade. Frankly, that particular point has rarely seemed less relevant than it does today, after Jarrett, Aaron Donald, and Ed Oliver have proved to be anywhere from very good to legendary players who have earned that particular label. If you move beyond that, Murphy is a powerful, relentless player who could be a really good pass rusher in the NFL as well as a high-end defender against the run. Those kinds of players are mighty useful.

Doing this would mean passing on one of the top-tier EDGE players (and cornerback, if that’s your desire) available in the first round and banking on getting one later on, which of course comes with no small amount of risk. There are expected to be options available late in the first round and early in the second, so if the Falcons are hellbent on stacking help for their defensive front, that may well be an option. To pass on the likes of Dallas Turner, Jared Verse, and Laiatu Latu, the Falcons would have to believe Murphy was better than them and a better fit for their needs in the here and now. With a new coaching staff with new priorities in town, and knowing the defensive interior is unsettled after this season, perhaps that will prove to be the case. I don’t imagine it would be an immediately popular selection, but it would not be the kind of out-of-left-field pick that, say, an offensive tackle would be.

This is dot-connecting and nothing more, but it’s interesting enough that I wanted to flag it for everyone’s attention with the draft less than a week away. If we start hearing more buzz around the Falcons and Murphy, it may portend a pick none of us expected a short time ago.