List of Atlanta Falcons first-round draft picks

The Atlanta Falcons, a professional American football team based in Atlanta, are part of the National Football Conference South Division. They joined the National Football League (NFL) as an expansion team for the 1966 season and became the first NFL franchise in the Southeastern United States.^[1] They first participated in the 1966 NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting, more commonly known as the NFL draft.^[2] In the NFL Draft, each NFL franchise annually seeks to add new players to its roster. Teams are ranked in reverse order based on the previous season's record, with the worst record picking first, the second-worst picking second and so on. The two exceptions to this order are made for teams that appeared in the previous Super Bowl; the Super Bowl champion always picks 32nd, and the Super Bowl loser always picks 31st. Teams have the option of trading away their picks to other teams for different picks, players, cash, or a combination thereof. Thus, it is not uncommon for a team's actual draft pick to differ from their assigned draft pick, or for a team to have extra or no draft picks in any round due to these trades.^[3]

In their first draft, the Falcons had two picks in the first round.^[4] These selections were Tommy Nobis, a linebacker from Texas, and Randy Johnson, a quarterback from Texas A&I. The Falcons have selected number one overall four times: Tommy Nobis, Steve Bartkowski, Aundray Bruce, and Michael Vick. The team has also selected number two overall three times and number three overall two times. The Falcons have selected players from Florida State University four times, the most from any university. The team's most recent first-round selection was Drake London, a wide receiver from the University of Southern California.