FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — A large contingency of Atlanta Falcons leaders, scouts and coaches had already made the hour trip southeast of the Falcons' facility in Flowery Branch to Athens earlier this spring. They'd already been inside the University of Georgia indoor facility. They'd already had conversations about the draftable prospects Kirby Smart's staff planned to churn out in the 2025 NFL Draft. With a week remaining until said draft kicked off, did they really need to go back? Yes. Yes they did.
This workout was different. For starters, it was more private. There wouldn't be cameras or reporters. Nor would the crowd of onlookers be as significant as it was a month prior. Still, the Falcons brought a group of 10 decision-makers to the college town once more.
They did so, because this workout would finally include Jalon Walker and Mykel Williams — two of the Bulldogs' most notable and coveted draft prospects. With the No. 15 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, the Falcons were in prime position to see one, if not both, of those players drop to them.
(If you've made it this far in the tale, you know which one).
It's difficult to say the Falcons were not already sold on Walker by this point in the draft process. Falcons outside linebackers coach Jacquies Smith said Walker was on his radar well before he actually met him at the NFL Scouting Combine at the end of February.
"Obviously, Jalon has been a talented player throughout the landscape of college football for a while," Smith said. "But I think my very first impression of him was walking with him down at the combine. You got to see the poise and character that he has. He has a big football family background with his dad being a coach, and you see that, you get that instantly from him."
From there, conversations continued, as they are ought to do throughout this process. Walker's connection with the Falcons brass grew rapidly. The hybrid defensive player even made an appearance at the Falcons' local pro day in early April, a move that not many top-30 prospects make, seeing as local pro days are usually designed for players who could fall to the status of undrafted free agents to get exposure. That wasn't going to include Walker, who, at the time, was coveted as a top-10 pick.
But through all of these meet ups — the combine, Georgia's first pro day, the Falcons' own local pro day — never once did the Falcons get the chance to see what Walker could do, physically.
Sure, they'd watched hours of tape of Walker's time at Georgia. Yes, of course, they'd spoken to countless teammates, coaches and Georgia personnel to paint the full picture of Walker's character. But with a week remaining until draft night, the physical piece had yet to slot into place. Which, ask any talent evaluator, that's a pretty important piece.
"We wanted to see him live," Falcons area scout Shepley Heard said. "That was our big thing. We wanted to see him move around. We wanted to see him do some drops into coverage. We wanted to see him do some pass rush stuff, live and up close, that we weren't able to see at the combine or at the pro day.
"So, we all showed up (in Athens) and saw it."