There are still Falcons fans defending Terry Fontenot’s draft record.
A lot of his defenders point to Arthur Smith’s influence in Atlanta’s draft classes from 2021 to 2023, and that Fontenot never had his voice heard.
They might have a point. Smith’s fingerprints were all over the Kyle Pitts and Bijan Robinson selections, but what about the other two dozen draft picks? Smith oversaw the selections of Richie Grant, Jalen Mayfield, Arnold Ebiketie, Troy Andersen, and Zach Harrison?
I just find that Fontenot didn’t have a say in all of these picks hard to believe, but I will entertain his defenders. You believe with Smith out of the door and Raheem Morris in the fold, Fontenot has been able to spread his wings? No, you can’t have it both ways. You can’t blame Smith for the three draft classes from 2021 to 2023 and then credit Fontenot for the 2024 class.
Even still, the 2024 draft class left a lot to be desired, except for the shining bright light in Michael Penix Jr., who will define both Fontenot and Morris’ careers in Atlanta. We should praise Fontenot for that, right? Wrong.
There are plenty of reports that revealed Atlanta’s head coach was the driving factor in the team drafting Penix just six weeks after inking Kirk Cousins to a $180 million deal.
So, Fontenot can either share in the glory of drafting Penix and take on the blame for whatever 2021-2023 was, or he can take on none of it, which, of course, is ridiculous. The Falcons hide behind this “collaborative” process, so nobody outside of the organization really knows who is making the decisions, but there’s no power structure in which the team’s general manager isn’t heavily involved.
Thankfully, Ken Segura of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution pressed Terry Fontenot on his horrid draft record.
“What has Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot done to merit faith in the decisions that he will make in this week’s NFL draft?
Most of his record would invite skepticism. It’s not how a Falcons fan would want to approach this highly critical event, but here we are.”
Segura also pointed out Arthur Blank’s fault in hiring the former Saints executive instead of Brad Holmes.
Holmes-drafted players have started a combined 488 games for the Lions, compared with 377 for the Falcons by Fontenot draftees. The latter total is even more glaring because those players had expansive opportunities to start given that the Falcons had little salary-cap room in 2021 and 2022 to sign free agents and not much talent to compete with on the roster.”
Fontenot has hit on his first-round picks, outside of Kyle Pitts. But are we really going to praise a general manager for finding contributors inside the top 10? That’s the expectation. It’s much easier to pick winners in the first 10 selections, but much of Fontenot’s tenure has been players not living up to their draft slots, and that’s handicapped Atlanta.
Very rarely do GMs get to keep their jobs after four sub-.500 seasons, but here we are. You’d think the Falcons would have to make the playoffs in 2025 for Fontenot to get a sixth season.
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Photographer: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
