NFL GM Rankings: Where's Atlanta Falcons’ Terry Fontenot?
The Atlanta Falcons perhaps overachieved by going 7-10 in each of their first two seasons under general manager Terry Fontenot and coach Arthur Smith, but to this point, have failed to take a major step forward in the third year of the regime. That makes trying to grade the work done by the duo and plan for the future difficult.
Terry Fontenot is the general manager of the Atlanta Falcons.
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Pro Football Focus recently ranked each general manager in the NFL in different groups, placing Fontenot in "Tier 3," which is described as "Questionable process, varying results." To this point, that feels like a fair assessment of the job done by Fontenot, and his regime as a whole.
"Atlanta has allocated a lot of draft capital and money to non-premium positions, making it harder to get out of the middle of the pack going forward as they build around top-five contracts at guard and safety," PFF wrote. "The Falcons have little talent to speak of at edge rusher and are without a long-term answer at quarterback despite drafting in the top eight for three straight years."
It is true that the Falcons, under Fontenot, haven't found solutions either at quarterback or edge rusher, arguably the two most important positions in the sport. And while Atlanta may have hoped former third-round pick Desmond Ridder would develop into a franchise quarterback, there wasn't a ton of evidence after his rookie season that he would, and it's been a disappointing second season, which some would say was predictable.
Still, the biggest indictment on this current regime is that Smith hasn't consistently made sure to get the best out of the team's high draft picks. It would be one thing if tight end Kyle Pitts, receiver Drake London or running back Bijan Robinson looked like misses, but they don't.
Again, we can debate whether Pitts should have been the No. 4 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft over receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Jaylen Waddle, among others, but there's no question he can play. In his rookie season, Pitts had 68 catches for 1,026 yards, looking like the next great tight end. In 20 games since then, Pitts has 63 catches for 775 yards. He has four touchdown catches in 37 career games. Part of that can be blamed on the dropoff in play at quarterback from even what Matt Ryan was late in his career to Marcus Mariota, Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinicke over the past two seasons. But an argument can certainly be made that Smith hasn't done enough to showcase the talents of Pitts. Similar cases can be made about London and Robinson early in their careers as well.
Perhaps down the stretch of this season, the 4-6 Falcons will get hot and end up winning a very weak NFC South. Short of that, though, Fontenot will be left to evaluate the future of the organization. Yes, clearly the Falcons need to find answers at quarterback and edge rusher. But it's fair to ask if Smith is the best person to help the trio of Pitts, London and Robinson reach their ceilings.
