Inside look at Falcons war room shows Trey Lance wasn’t the guy

The Falcons released an 11-minute clip behind the scenes of the 2021 NFL draft.

The video begins with the re-playing of notable draft analysts and reporters speaking on what Atlanta “needed” or “had to do” with the fourth overall pick. Almost every single one was harping on the quarterback prospects. Then it shows Arthur Smith and Terry Fontenot speaking on numerous occasions about this class and Matt Ryan, to which they repeatedly responded with cloudy answers that gave no real insight into the Falcons’ plans.

Then the scene shifts to a camera in the war room with a speaker saying that the San Francisco 49ers had submitted their card for the third overall pick… Trey Lance. A standing Fontenot immediately smiles, claps, and turns towards his head coach to say, “You called it a month ago,” smiling ear to ear.

After the reaction to the Lance pick, Fontenot receives a call from what appears to be another general manager which he discusses briefly what I assume to be a potential trade when someone in the background alerts Fontenot Detroit is on the line to seemingly do the same thing — inquire about a trade. Nothing comes to fruition as the Falcons were set on the tight end from Florida as no offer enticed Fontenot.

The reaction is obvious; as Fontenot confirmed after the draft on NFL radio, there was no way they weren’t going to draft Pitts. After rumors and calls for the team to take either Trey Lance or Justin Fields, the Falcons’ brass never revealed their intentions.

The video goes on and gives an inside look at the trade with Denver and the subsequent Richie Grant second-round pick. But the most important part of this is how excited the Falcons were when the 49ers selected Trey Lance; it seems the result was always going to be the best player on the board at four or a trade back if the offer was good enough… it never was, and now Kyle Pitts is a member of the Falcons.