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The Sound and the Fury

How much do forfeited draft picks really hurt?

THE FALCONS FINISHED in the top 10 in NFL attendance last season but still thought it necessary to pump recorded crowd noise into the Georgia Dome—a violation of the NFL's rules that led to a league-imposed $350,000 fine and the forfeit of a 2016 fifth-round draft pick. It's too soon to know what pick Atlanta will have in '16, but based on their '15 pick (No. 146), here's a historical look at the type of player they could be missing out on. For context, results for the Patriots' lost first-rounder (Spygate) and the 49ers' sacrificed fifth-rounder (tampering), both from '08, are shown as well.

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KEY:

GOOD PICK

BAD PICK

NEUTRAL PICK

THEY SAID IT

"I don't think being big at the quarterback position is a bad thing."

Jared Lorenzen the 300-plus-pound QB known as the Hefty Lefty, on photos of Jameis Winston in which he appears a bit doughy.

PHOTO

FRANK VICTORES/USA TODAY SPORTS (LORENZEN)

THREE PHOTOS

THIRTY THREE ILLUSTRATIONS