2010 Pride of Detroit Community Mock Draft: Pick No. 19

Rd. # Player Pos. College 1 19 Brandon Graham DE/OLB Michigan General Manager: ATL Lion

With the 19th pick of the 2010 Pride of Detroit Community Mock Draft, the Atlanta Falcons select Michigan defensive end/outside linebacker Brandon Graham.

Here is ATL Lion's reasoning for the pick:

For the first time in their history, the Falcons have put together two winning seasons in a row. After being dismantled by Jim Mora, a couple of pit bulls, and Bobby Petrino, the Falcons showed the league how to rebuild with Mike Smith and golden boy Matt Ryan. I'm sure you remember him. We helped make his first pass one to remember as he hit Mike Jenkins for a 62 yard TD (no help from Travis Fisher, who forgot that the other team might throw the ball).

Having revitalized their offense with Ryan, Turner, and Gonzalez, the Falcons hope to build a playoff-caliber defense. Last year, the Falcons were sorely missing an outside rusher to take some of the double teams off John Abraham. They would love to upgrade either their first round bust DE Jamaal Anderson (thanks Petrino) or their OLB Nicholas. They can do both with Graham.

Graham's Senior Bowl was great and that certainly did help his stock rise, but the important thing for the Falcons is that he has 138 tackles in his career with 63 for a loss. Sure he is a classic tweener (small for DE and large for OLB), but this guy just gets to ball in the backfield. This is the player that revitalizes their pass rush.

Check out the 2010 Pride of Detroit Community Mock Draft tracker for a look at all of the picks.