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Tuesday, January 29, 2013
 Atlanta's first-rounder
By Tim Kavanagh
After going 13-3 and earning the NFC's No. 1 seed in the playoffs, the Atlanta Falcons nearly qualified for the Super Bowl, but endured a collapse in the second half of the NFC championship game, and will be watching this weekend from home like many of the rest of us. As they look to reload for 2013, on whom will they invest their first-round pick?

Jay Adams of AtlantaFalcons.com had a look at a variety of mock drafts, and found that most of them had Atlanta going with a defensive lineman or tight end with the No. 30 overall selection. A lot can happen between now and the Falcons' first pick -- Atlanta themselves made a big jump up in the first round two drafts ago to snap Julio Jones -- but these are logical positions for the club to target, based upon the advanced age of some key contributors:

Pat Yasinskas
TE, DE, CB and OT should all be considered
"[Taking a DE or TE] makes plenty of sense because tight end Tony Gonzalez has given indications he's leaning heavily toward retirement and the Falcons need an eventual successor to defensive end John Abraham. But, if the Falcons don't re-sign Brent Grimes and/or Sam Baker, I could see them turning their attention toward cornerback or left tackle."