Falcons' Terry Fontenot Gets Honest on 2 Moves Up 2025 NFL Draft Board

Atlanta Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot admitted to reporters Friday night that members of his staff encouraged him to trade back in the 2025 NFL Draft to acquire more draft capital. Instead, Fontenot had (once again) the opposite strategy.

The Falcons have traded up the 2025 draft board not once, but twice. Fontenot explained Friday why those trades were the right moves for the Falcons this year.

"They had a whole thing where they sat me down, and said we need to trade back and pick up more picks," Fontenot said. "I'll tell you, it's when you have convinction on players and when you judge things and say if it was a good trade or a bad trade, it's not about the points and all those things.

"It's about the player, and if you hit on a player, that makes sense for you, and that's going to end up being a really good player for you, then it was a good trade."

Fontenot seemed to be responding to early reaction from the first-round. A lot of NFL pundits criticized the Falcons for acquiring a second first-round pick to draft Tennessee edge rusher James Pearce.

ESPN's Seth Walder called it "a poor team-building choice" while Mel Kiper Jr. identified the trade as "shocking."

To acquire the pick to land Pearce, the Falcons gave up their 2025 second-rounder and a seventh-round choice along with a 2026 first-rounder. The Falcons sent those three picks to the Los Angeles Rams for No. 26 overall and a 2025 third-rounder.

The Falcons moved up again in the third round. Fontenot agreed to trade the third-rounder from the Rams (No. 101 overall) and a 2026 fifth-rounder to the Philadelphia Eagles for No. 96 overall.

At No. 96, the Falcons drafted safety Xavier Watts.

Fontenot has done what most draft pundits expected -- address Atlanta's defense. After his first selection Saturday, the Falcons have spent all four of their 2025 picks on that side of the ball.

Pundits can criticize Fontenot for sacrificing the organization's future in order to accomplish that goal all they want. But the general manager's point will remain true.

If Pearce and Watts become stars or even reliable starters, it will likely be worth the extra draft capital it cost to land them. Draft picks are only worth anything to begin with because there's an assumption that the team is going to add a star player.

Fontenot is so confident in Pearce and Watts becoming stars that he was willing to give up a future opportunity to get more prospects.

If he's wrong, Fontenot won't have as many draft picks next year as he should to fix it.