Cover 9@9: Falcons’ Terry Fontenot: ‘We have a lot of belief in our team’

“We have a lot of belief not only in him, we have a lot of belief in our team and our coaches and how we are going to develop people here. How we are going to play defense. How we are going to play offense. We believe in the team.

“Teams win games. It’s never going to be about one individual. It’s belief in him and who he is. Belief in our team and our play.”

2. Investing in Jessie Bates: The Falcons signed safety Jessie Bates to a four-year, $64.02 million deal March 16. A total of $36 million of the deal is guaranteed, according to NFLPA documents.

Fontenot explained the rationale is signing Bates.

“Again it starts with the makeup,” Fontenot said. “He’s been a productive player. He’s a well-rounded player. We talk about smarts, toughness and being versatile. He can wear a lot of different hats for us.

“You don’t have to fit him into a box, and he’s going to impact players around him. Again, we know him well. You know exactly what you’re getting when you have (coaching) overlaps. ... We want to get good football players that fit what we are looking for.”

3. Terrell’s fifth-year option: The Falcons are expected to pick up cornerback A.J. Terrell’s $12.3 million fifth-year option and likely follow the same path as they did with guard Chris Lindstrom. The picked up his option last offseason and followed that with a contract extension.

“You always want to think a few years ahead,” Fontenot said. “When you are thinking about your plan and everything that you are doing, a few years away. That’s what we did last year with Chris and extended him the following offseason. With A.J., we just have to sit on it and determine how we are going to proceed. Love A.J. Love everything that he does.”

4. More Fontenot: Here’s Fontenot on other topics:

On the secondary: “We have some young talent. Some young hungry players. A lot of those guys had to play early. You look at some guys like Dee Alford. He played in the CFL, and he played a lot of snaps for us. ... You look at young players playing a lot of snaps throughout the defense, and that’s important. That’s valuable experience, and you can’t replace that experience with anything. Getting all of that experience at all positions, secondary is one of them. That’s why adding a guy like Jessie is going to help all of those guys grow.”

On building up the middle: “We wanted to add at each level. … when you think about David (Onyemata) and what he can do, he’s versatile, and we can move him around. He can play in some different spots. The same thing with Kaden (Elliss). ... Last year, he played inside ‘backer, and he played on the edge. He played outside, and he showed that he could be productive in both areas. We can put him at some different spots. Same with Jessie, he can play in the box. He can play deep. We are able to add on each level. We added those players because we feel really good about who they were and what they were going to add to the team. We never want to put ourselves in a box and say this is exactly what we want to do, but it kind of worked out that way.”

On cornerback Mike Hughes: “Again, we have overlaps with him. (Assistant head coach/defense) Jerry Gray drafted him and knows him well. He’s a talented player. He’s had some injuries, and yet he’s talented. If you put on the tape right now and you see him flying around, the way he competes ... a versatile player who can play in the slot, he can play (outside), that’s not easy to do that. You have to wear a lot of different hats to do that.

“You’ve got to be tough. You’ve got to be able to pressure and blitz. You got to be able to throw everybody around in the run game. You’ve got to be able to cover the quick slots, but sometimes you get the big guys. Sometimes you get tight ends. He can wear a lot of hats. He can play outside. We like the player, and again, when you have overlaps and coaches that know them well, that’s important.”

On draft prep and the QB group: “There are some good players there, and you’re not going to be surprised if before we even pick a lot of those guys fly off the board. Maybe there is a player sitting there for us. You just don’t really know how it’s going to go. You really have to prepare for everything.

“That’s why we bring players in to visit, and we spend as much time as we can with them. Sometimes we go out and see them. Sometimes we bring them in and just do it a different way. You can never look at what we do leading up to the draft and think (that’s their guy) because you just never know. We want to spend as much time and exhaust every option. There are some good quarterbacks, different flavors in this draft.”

On Onyemata helping Grady Jarrett: “Yeah, man. He is a violent, powerful and physical player. You put the tape on of him, and he’s fun to watch because of the violence and anger that he plays with. He’s a disruptive player, whether we are talking about the run game or the pass rush.

“Sometimes people just look at sacks, but he affects the quarterback. He gets the quarterback off his spot. Whether it’s producing more sacks for somebody like Grady or someone on the edge or for some other players ... he is going to affect the quarterback.”

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

5. Jalen Mayfield update: Mayfield started 16 games in 2021 as a rookie at left guard, but didn’t touch the field in 2022. He spent most of the season on injured reserve with a back injury. He may benefit from a move back to tackle, where he played in college.

“He’ll be ready to roll,” Fontenot said. “He’ll be ready to roll once we start this. ... (Guard or tackle), again we talk about versatility, and we’ll see. We had him at guard, but I’m sure once we get all the players here and know what we are doing, (coach Arthur Smith) can set down with the coaches and decide where he wants to put him. He’ll be ready to roll for the offseason program.”

6. Offseason injury report: Smith didn’t want to give specific injury updates, but noted that he’s expecting everyone back by training camp.

Here are the players who ended last season on injured reserve:

Running back Caleb Huntley (Achilles, sustained Dec. 18), wide receiver Jared Bernhardt (groin/hamstring), tight end Kyle Pitts (right knee, medial collateral ligament, sustained Nov. 20, surgery Nov. 30), tight end John FitzPatrick (surgery on feet), offensive lineman Jalen Mayfield (back), guard Justin Shaffer (high ankle sprain), defensive tackle Ta’Quon Graham (left knee, medial collateral ligament, sustained Nov. 20), safety Jovante Moffatt (calf), cornerback Casey Hayward (pectoral surgery, sustained Oct. 16.)

7. Falcons’ free-agency tracker: We have all of the official contract numbers and the dates the deals were signed, according to NFLPA documents.

Backup quarterback Taylor Heinicke’s deal is on the books as a two-year deal worth $14 million. The deal originally was reported as worth up to $20 million.

Also, defensive end Calais Campbell’s contract is fully guaranteed at $7 million, and offensive lineman Joshua Miles received $352,500 in guaranteed money.

The Falcons paid slightly more for nickel back Mike Hughes ($7 million) than what former nickel back Isaiah Oliver ($6.65 million) received from the 49ers.

EXTENDED

– RG Chris Lindstrom, five years, $105 million ($62.7 million guaranteed), signed March 16.

– RT Kaleb McGary, three years, $34.5 million ($15 million guaranteed), signed March 31.

TRADE

– TE Jonnu Smith from Patriots for a seventh-round draft pick.

NEW FREE AGENTS

– S Jessie Bates III, four years, $64.02 million ($36 million guaranteed), signed March 16.

– DT David Onyemata, four years, $35 million ($24.5 million guaranteed), signed March 17.

– LB Kaden Elliss, three years, $21.5 million ($10.16 million guaranteed), signed March 16.

– QB Taylor Heinicke, two years, $14 million ($6.32 million guaranteed, signed March 16.

– CB Mike Hughes, two years, $7 million, ($3.24 million guaranteed), signed March 21.

– LB Tae Davis, one year, $1.2 million ($101,500 guaranteed), signed, signed March 17.

– WR Mack Hollins, one year, $2.5 million ($910,000 guaranteed), signed March 21.

- DL Joe Gaziano, one year, $1.01 million, signed March 27.

- WR Scotty Miller, one year, $1.2 million (guaranteed $152,500), signed March 30.

- DE Calais Campbell, one year, $7 million (fully guaranteed), signed March 31.

- OT Joshua Miles, one year $1.16 million (guaranteed $352,500), signed March 31.

RETURNING FALCONS

– P Bradley Pinion, three years, $8.65 million ($4.325 million guaranteed), signed March 16.

– FB Keith Smith, one year, $2.35 million ($625,000 guaranteed), signed March 16.

– OLB Lorenzo Carter, two years, $9 million, ($5.25 million guaranteed), signed March 7.

– LS Liam McCullough, one year, $870,000, signed Feb. 22.

– TE Parker Hesse, one year, $940,000, signed Feb. 24.

– CB Cornell Armstrong, one year, $1.2 million ($152,500 guaranteed, signed March 20.

– DT Eddie Goldman (contract tolled. Reinstated from reserve/retired list) one year, $1.16 million, reinstated March 21.

SIGNED WITH OTHER TEAMS

– CB Isaiah Oliver (49ers) two years, $6.65 million ($4.16 million guaranteed), signed March 17.

– DL Abdullah Anderson (Commanders) one year, $1.7 million ($500,000 guaranteed, signed March 17.

– CB Mike Ford (Browns) one year, $1.5 million ($925,000 guaranteed), signed March 21.

– OL Chuma Edoga (Cowboys) one year, $1.2 million ($152,500 guaranteed), signed March 21.

– CB Rashad Fenton (Cardinals) one year, $1.2 million ($76,250 guaranteed), signed March 30.

– G Elijah Wilkinson (Cardinals), listed on league transactions.

STILL AVAILABLE

Here’s a look at former Falcons who still out there on the free-agency streets:

- LB Rashaan Evans

- WR Olamide Zaccheaus

- S Erik Harris

- WR Damiere Byrd

- TE Anthony Firkser

- DT Vincent Taylor

- LS Beau Brinkley

- WR KhaDarel Hodge

- LB Nick Kwiatkoski

- TE MyCole Pruitt

- DT Jaleel Johnson

- G Colby Gossett

- DL Matt Dickerson

8. Falcons’ position-by-position analysis: Here’s our position-by-position look at the how the Falcons performed during their 7-10 season in 2022.

Part 1: Running backs

Part 2: Quarterbacks

Part 3: Wide receivers/tight ends

Part 4: Offensive line

Part 5: Defensive line

Part 6: Linebackers

Part 7: Defensive backs

Part 8: Special teams

9. Depth chart: Here’s what the Falcons’ depth chart looks like after the most recent deals with offensive lineman Joshua Miles:

OFFENSE

QB – Desmond Ridder, Taylor Heinicke, Logan Woodside, Feleipe Franks

RB – Cordarrelle Patterson, Tyler Allgeier, Avery Williams, *Caleb Huntley, B.J. Baylor

FB – Keith Smith, Clint Ratkovich

WR – Drake London, Frank Darby, *Jared Bernhardt, Josh Ali

TE – *Kyle Pitts, Jonnu Smith, Parker Hesse, Feleipe Franks, *John FitzPatrick, Tucker Fisk, John Raine

LT – Jake Matthews, Germain Ifedi

LG – Kyle Hinton, Matt Hennessy, *Jalen Mayfield, *Justin Shaffer

C – Drew Dalman, Ryan Neuzil, Jonotthan Harrison

RG – Chris Lindstrom

RT – Kaleb McGary, Tyler Vrabel, Joshua Miles

WR – Mack Hollins, Scotty Miller, Ra’Shaun Henry

DEFENSE

OLB – Lorenzo Carter, DeAngelo Malone, Quinton Bell

DE – Grady Jarrett, Timothy Horne, Amani Bledsoe

NT – Eddie Goldman, *Ta’Quon Graham, Jalen Dalton

DE – David Onyemata, Joe Gaziano

OLB – Calais Campbell, Ade Ogundeji, Arnold Ebiketie, David Anenih

ILB – Kaden Elliss, Dorian Etheridge, Tae Davis

ILB – Troy Andersen, Mykal Walker, Nate Landman

CB – A.J. Terrell, Mike Hughes (nickel), Dylan Mabin, Javelin Guidry

FS – Jessie Bates III, Jaylinn Hawkins, Micah Abernathy, Jamal Peters

SS – Richie Grant, *Jovante Moffatt

CB – *Casey Hayward, Cornell Armstrong, Darren Hall, Dee Alford, Matt Hankins, John Reid

SPECIAL TEAMS

K – Younghoe Koo

P/H – Bradley Pinion

LS – Liam McCullough

PR – Avery Williams

KOR – Cordarrelle Patterson or Avery Williams

Note: Players who ended the season on injured reserve have an asterisk.