After the first round of the draft, it’s abundantly clear that general manager Terry Fontenot and coach Arthur Smith are in no hurry to rush Matt Ryan, the greatest quarterback in franchise history, out the door.
With three years left on Ryan’s six-year, $150 million contract, they had a chance to select former Georgia and Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields and Alabama’s Mac Jones, but elected to draft former Florida tight end Kyle Pitts with the fourth pick in the draft Thursday.
Fields went to the Chicago Bears, who took him 11th overall. The former Harrison High star will have to beat out Andy Dalton. Jones went to the New England Patriots with the 15th pick, but likely was never a consideration at No. 4 for the Falcons.
“From the very beginning we always had a lot of confidence in Matt Ryan,” Fontenot said. “Really going through and evaluating this entire quarterback class has nothing to do, never had anything to do with a lack of confidence in Matt Ryan.”
Since he was selected with the third pick in the 2008 draft, Ryan has broken all of Steve Bartkowski’s franchise passing records. He’s guided the Falcons to the playoffs six times, including to Super Bowl LI.
But since signing the new contract, the Falcons are 18-30 while Ryan has continued to play at a respectably high level. Ryan is the only quarterback on the roster after Matt Schaub retired and Kurt Benkert was released.
“We evaluate and continue to evaluate this whole quarterback class,” Fontenot said. “But that was never a lack of confidence in Matt Ryan. Again, we couldn’t be more excited about Kyle. We took the best player off the board, and we feel real good about it right now.”
Smith was asked about Fields and how the team had him evaluated.
“Obviously, there’s been a ton of players that went in the first round,” Smith said. “I don’t feel like that’s fair to Justin or the Bears. Let the Bears or Justin speak about that. There were a lot of players we liked in this draft.”
AJC’S POSITION-BY-POSITION NFL DRAFT SERIES
QUARTERBACKS: How far will Justin Fields drop in draft? | Top 10 QBs
RUNNING BACKS: Plenty of prospects to pick from | Top 10 RBs
WIDE RECEIVERS: Draft deep with talent | Top 10 WRs
TIGHT ENDS: Ability to create mismatches is key | Top 10 TEs
OFFENSIVE TACKLES: A ‘nasty’ bunch | Top 10 OTs
OFFENSIVE GUARDS/CENTERS: The men in the middle | Top 10 C/OGs
END RUSHERS: Pass on this draft stock | Top 10 DEs
DEFENSIVE TACKLES: One star among lackluster block | Top 10 DTs
LINEBACKERS: Deep class for position | Top 10 LBs
CORNERBACKS: Plethora of options for first two rounds | Top 10 CBs
SAFETIES: Falcons likely will add position player | Top 10 Safeties
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