Falcons look to pull ‘Georgia peaches’ off their draft board

The Falcons set their draft board in February and added a new twist to highlight the homegrown talent.

“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,” Fontenot said. “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.”

Overall, 41 players with Georgia connections to state high schools or colleges were invited to the scouting combine, which runs through Monday.

“There’s a lot of Georgia natives that are really talented,” Fontenot said. “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.”

One of the Georgians is Alabama cornerback Brian Branch, who played at Sandy Creek High, but left the state for college. He picked Alabama over Ohio State, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

“I (met) with them (Thursday),’ Branch said. “It would be huge. I told one of the reporters that it’s home. My mom is right up the street. She can come watch me play instead of having to drive. Just being able to play for the Falcons (and) represent my hometown, my home city. It’s big.”

LSU cornerback Jay Ward is a native of Moultrie. He played at Colquitt County before leaving the state.

“Being from Georgia, I watched a lot of the Atlanta Falcons,” Ward said. “My household, they are Atlanta Falcons fans, so we had to watch that.”

Ward helped Colquitt County to a 14-1 record and a spot in the Class 7A state title game as a senior.

“I play in 7A football, that’s one of the hardest (classes),” Ward said. “Especially playing the teams out of Atlanta and South Georgia, you’re going to get everybody’s hardest.”

The Falcons, under Fontenot and coach Arthur Smith, are in a vital stage of their rebuilding process. The Falcons have gone 14-20 over the first two seasons as they battled through turning over the roster and major salary-cap issues.

The Falcons have at least eight picks for the coming draft and are $66,478,729 under the 2023 salary cap, according to NFLPA documents.

The Falcons believe they had set a firm foundation in place to move forward and return the team to respectability in the league. In a weak NFC South, with some good moves, the Falcons could return to the playoffs in 2023 after five consecutive losing seasons.

“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.”

The Falcons will continue their search for Matt Ryan’s successor. Marcus Mariota was released Tuesday, and the Falcons have not been willing to anoint Desmond Ridder as the quarterback of the future. Logan Woodside is the only other quarterback on the roster.

The Falcon passed on quarterbacks Justin Fields, Mac Jones and Kenny Pickett in the past two drafts.

The Falcons will heavily scout the quarterbacks in the 2023 class, including Georgia native Stetson Bennett.

“I think it’s who they are because that’s what’s really going to set that ceiling,” Fontenot said of scouting the quarterbacks. “Who they really are, and that’s why we’re here at the combine, and every exposure matters.”

The Falcons are allowed to meet with 45 players for 20-minute interview sessions.

“Speed dating, but that’s an important part of it,” Fontenot said. “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.”

The Falcons have all of the film on the quarterbacks, but they try to get to know the person. Bennett will have a couple of things to explain after he elected not to play in the Senior Bowl and ended up getting arrested for public intoxication in Dallas in January.

“So, with quarterbacks ... it’s about who they are as individuals,” Fontenot said. “They all have talent. They all have good skill sets. But once they get in the NFL, there’s a lot of other external pressures.”

The Falcons want to know how they’ll handle the external pressures and still manage to perform.

“How are they going to deal with adversity,” Fontenot said. “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.”

The Falcons will watch the drills closely, but get more information out of the meetings with the prospects.

“The meetings and the medicals that we get from our doctors and trainers that are here, and we get all the medical information,” Fontenot said. “The time that we get to spend with the players is important. I think the workouts are, too.”

Some players don’t work out at the combine, such as Georgia defensive lineman Jalen Carter, who already had informed teams that he was going to work out at Georgia’s Pro Day, not at the combine, even before his arrest on traffic violations Wednesday.

“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 compete,” Fontenot said.

In addition to the workouts and the interviews, the Falcons will study the analytics on players.

“It’s apples to apples when you compare it to 10 years ago, what someone did at the same position,” Fontenot said. “Then we can look at the trends and look at what’s most important at each position.”

If the decision is close, the Falcons are prepared to pull some Georgia peaches off their draft board.

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