2013 NFL mock draft: Falcons select D.J. Hayden

With the 60th pick in Pride Of Detroit's 2013 NFL mock draft, the Atlanta Falcons select Houston cornerback D.J. Hayden. ATL Lion is serving as the Falcons' general manager, and his reasoning for the pick is below.

Being a fan of Deadwood, I had my eye on D.J. Swearinger. We can always use a ruthless bar owner on our team. Since he was taken, I went with the closest guy I could find, D.J. Hayden. Seriously now, this guy is a first-round talent that has fallen off the boards because of an injury. Not just a torn ACL or anything that people have seen before. During a practice, he tore the main vein that goes into his heart. The docs sewed it up and he is back to being a physical specimen, running a 4.3 40 at his pro day. The problem isn't that no one knows if he is at risk to have the injury again because no one has ever survived this injury. Most people just die from it before they realize something is wrong. D.J. survived because it happened on a practice field with doctors running around checking on guys who noticed some odd signs and put him in the hospital ASAP.

So in the real world, I would have reams of doctor reports and opinions to add to my decision, but in mock draft land I only had mock versions of these. So I take a late-round (in our two-round mock) flyer on a guy that is a speedy, ball-hawking DB. He has good size at 5'11" and 190 lbs. that allows him to be physical with receivers, and he has great foot skills. His speed and eye for the football helped him snatch 4 INTs in 9 games last year, 2 of those going back for TDs. This is just the kind of guy the Falcons want learning from Asante Samuel for a year or two before taking over for him.

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Check out the 2013 Pride Of Detroit Community Mock Draft tracker for a look at all of the picks.