It isn’t very often that you see two players from the same draft class traded for one another just two years after they were drafted, and it’s even less often that you see that happen with a player one franchise moved up for in that particular draft class. Yet Adam Schefter is reporting that the Falcons have traded Ruke Orhorhoro, the 35th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, for Jacksonville Jaguars defensive lineman Maason Smith, the 48th pick.
This is a stunner for a variety of reasons. Orhorhoro was a player
the Falcons coveted enough to move up for in 2024, and while that was a defensive coordinator, a head coach, and a general manager ago, it’s still jarring. Orhorhoro has yet to live up to his second round billing, but he had 3.5 sacks last year as part of an active, disruptive front. Smith, meanwhile, had three sacks as a rookie but none a year ago, playing a little more than half of Orhorhoro’s snaps for Jacksonville.
We’ll see what the team says about the move, but at first glance it feels like the team simply deciding Smith would be a better fit than Orhorhoro. While he was productive at times last year, Orhorhoro struggled quite a bit against the run, while the slightly bigger (1 inch taller, 10 pounds heavier per his listing) Smith may well be viewed as a better fit. Smith was a capable pass rusher a year ago despite the lack of sacks and is one year younger to the day than Orhorhoro, as well, so this would appear to be a new staff and Jeff Ulbrich deciding Orhorhoro was not an ideal fit for their defensive front and Smith would be an upgrade.
