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Flowery Branch, Ga. • The Atlanta Falcons continued to build their defense on Thursday night by selecting Florida safety Keanu Neal with the No. 17 pick in the NFL draft.
Neal will compete for a starting job as the Falcons look to replace veteran strong safety William Moore, who was released. Kemal Ishmael returns after playing behind Moore last season.
Neal is regarded as a big hitter and a strong run-stopper. He has good size (6-1, 216) and good speed, running the 40-yard dash at 4.59 seconds in his pro day.
Neal missed two games in 2015 with a hamstring injury but still had 96 tackles, two sacks and an interception. He had three interceptions in 2014.
The pick comes after the Falcons chose defensive players with four of their seven picks in 2015, their first draft with coach Dan Quinn. That defensive focus included Clemson outside linebacker Vic Beasley Jr. in the first round and LSU cornerback Jalen Collins in the second round.
This offseason, the Falcons have signed free-agent linebacker Courtney Upshaw and also brought back linebacker Sean Weatherspoon, Atlanta's first-round pick in 2010.
Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff and Quinn were under more pressure than usual to make good on the first-round pick. Atlanta has only five picks in the draft, including only one after the fourth round.
The team was stripped of its fifth-round pick as part of it penalties for pumping artificial crowd noise into the Georgia Dome in the 2013 and 2014 seasons. The Falcons traded its sixth-round pick to Tennessee last year as part of a package for left guard Andy Levitre.
Other offseason free-agent moves helped make it possible to focus on defense with Thursday night's pick.
The biggest move was a five-year, $47.5 million contract with former Cleveland Browns three-time Pro Bowl center Alex Mack. The deal makes Mack the NFL's highest-paid center, with an average salary of $9.5 million. Atlanta also added former Cincinnati receiver Mohamed Sanu on a five-year, $32.5 million contract.