INDIANAPOLIS — We’ll skip the nine items this week and provide most of Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot’s talk with the media Tuesday.
Here’s what Fontenot had to say:
On the state of the team: “We need to add a lot,” Fontenot said. “We just want to make sure we go through the process in the right way and focus on the right kind of people. We have to focus on our makeup and not compromise that at all.”
On scouting QBs: “I think it’s who they are because that’s what’s really going to set that ceiling. Who they really are, and that’s why we’re here at the combine, and every exposure matters. If we get to meet with 45 players in 20 minutes of ... speed dating, but that’s an important part of it. When these players play in the all-star games. That’s an important part of it. When we go to individual workouts, Pro Days, all these things. It all matters. It all matters.
“So, with quarterbacks ... it’s about who they are as individuals. They all have talent, and they all have good skill sets. But once they get in the NFL, there’s a lot of other external pressures and a lot of things these young men have to deal with. So, will they be able to handle that and get the most out of themselves on the field? They’re going to deal with adversity. How are they going to handle that? You have to hit on the makeup and make sure you’re bringing in the right types of individuals with the right intangibles.”
On what intangibles matter: “Everything, everything matters, and that’s why we, again, some people might not value the combine as much, but we want to be here and want to be here as much as we can and take full advantage of it. Because everything matters. Every moment you can be around these players to get around them and get around people who know them. Everything matters.”
On the drills: “The most important thing I would say are the meetings. I think it’s all important. The meetings and the medicals that we get from our doctors and trainers that are here, and we get all the medical information. The time that we get to spend with the players is important. I think the workouts are, too.
“Some players choose not to work out, and that’s their prerogative, but you love for guys to get out there under the lights and go out there and compete.”
On analytics: “We look at all the analytics and all the data. It’s apples to apples when you compare it to 10 years ago, what someone did at the same position. Then we can look at the trends and look at what’s most important at each position. We can do studies. I think everything’s important. If you’d say what’s the most important thing, I would say it’s meetings.”
On if Tyler Allgeier is a bell-cow running back: “He’s a good player. You always need multiple (players) at that position. ... I think having one running back carry all the time, I think that’s kind of rare and unique for somebody. You need to have multiple running backs to preserve their careers and to take care of them. But, man, we love Tyler. We love the work that he put in. He’s such a smart, versatile player. He’s a guy that’s not just first and second down, but third downs with protections. He’s smart. He can catch the ball. He can go play special teams on fourth downs. We love Tyler, but it’s another position that we ... always add to.”
On the Georgia players and Jalen Carter: “There are some good players from the Georgia Bulldogs here, but there’s also a lot of good players from Georgia here. It’s something we lose sight of. We actually on our magnets, whether it’s a free agent board or the college draft board, we put a peach on there, if they’re from Georgia. That’s something that sometimes people lose sight of that there’s a lot of players that grew up in this area that might have chosen to go to another school. There’s a lot of Georgia natives that are really talented. Georgia is doing really well. We have some really good prospects here that we’re excited about. We’re also excited about a lot of Georgia natives.”
On inside/outside safeties and slot guys: “That’s a starter. Now, if you look at you in your (nickel), 75-80% of the time you’re gonna be in that sub package. And so that position, whatever you call it – nickel, star, third safety or third corner – that’s a starting position. It’s a tough position because you obviously have to be really smart because you have to do a lot of different things. You got to play the run. You’ve got to pressure. There are so many different things that you need to do. But that’s a critical position.”
On pass rushers: “When we are talking about pass rush, it’s not just about defensive line, the D-tackles or the defensive ends, you want to add everywhere.
“Because it doesn’t matter how quick you’re getting to the quarterback, if the coverage isn’t good, then it doesn’t matter. They can get rid of the ball quick. You have to make sure you build up your defense and improve your defense. It doesn’t matter how you get to the quarterback, it can be with power, it can be with quickness. There are different ways to do it. So, you want versatile players, but you have to make sure you’re improving your whole defense and you’re not just focusing on one area because it’s a total picture.”
On the draft board: “We have February meetings, and that is just the scouts. That’s (vice president of player personnel) Kyle Smith and the scouts setting the board. We have an excellent scouting staff that has done a really good job through the season, and they set the board based off the information they have now.
“That’s so important about this part of the process because now this is the (coaches’) first exposure. We get to have 45 formal interviews. We have a lot of informal interviews, and the coaches get to – we have all the information from the scouts. Now they get to get in front of them. And then so we’re going to continue to go through. We’ll have the Pro Days. We’ll have the private visits, the private workouts, and we’ll continue to go through it. And then we get to April, and it’s going to change because we have more information. We’re in a critical part of the process right now. We set the board, and that’s the fun part because we’re setting it just based on the film and what you got from the school here. So that’s really cool. Now we get through the rest of the process and get the coaches involved, and then we make the adjustments.”
On new DC Ryan Nielsen: “When I think about (a) guy like him, I think about what we have in our culture and our types of coaches. It’s all about development and competitiveness. That’s who Ryan Nielsen is. It’s the same things that we preach.
“Love for the guys to go out and compete. It doesn’t matter how you got there. It doesn’t matter if you’re a top draft pick, a high-pay free agent, torpedo-the-draft guy, doesn’t matter how you got there. If you’re willing to come in and put in the work every day, then you’re gonna have an opportunity. Love Ryan, you know we’re all about competition, and we’re gonna definitely have a lot of competition.”
On the depth in the draft: “We are right in the midst of that right now. I wouldn’t talk about a specific, but you can find players everywhere. We always talk about it. There’s gonna be a really good player at (No.) 8. Whether we move up or move down, we’re gonna get a good player in the first round and then throughout the draft. We have an excellent staff that we’re going to find those players every year. When we get through the draft, there are guys that didn’t even get drafted. They show up at a rookie camp and make a team. So we’re gonna turn over every stone again. We have an excellent staff, and we’re gonna challenge ourselves to find players at every level.”
On the role of the Senior Bowl in the Falcons’ draft process: “We really value the Senior Bowl. We have 20 players on our roster right now from the Senior Bowl, and (most of) those players are from the last two drafts. (Executive director) Jim Nagy and that staff do a really good job of bringing good players in. The process is always really smooth. They give really good access to scouts and the coaches.”
On the big offseason: “We really have to eliminate the noise. We always talk about focus on the process and eliminate the noise. There is, there’s so much stuff out there right now. There’s a lot of different information out there. We have to focus on the process and focus on the things that are most important. And it’s not always easy because there is a lot of information, but that’s why things like this, things like the Pro Days, things like the visits, we’re really focused on those areas and those are really important for us.”
On heights and weights: “Yeah, at every position, we go through and we do studies every year and we look at the trends of what’s most important. Whether we’re talking about a specific measurable, specific statistic, but that’s ever-changing, ever-evolving. It’s something we want to constantly look at. As much information as we can get. We want to get it, and then we just need to decipher it and figure out what’s most important.”
The Bow Tie Chronicles
About the Author
