What Falcons’ Terry Fontenot, Arthur Smith had to say about drafting Bijan Robinson

On Robinson’s versatility and their takeaways from their visit in Austin, Texas, where they worked him out:

Smith: We did a lot of work with guys that we thought would be in that pod we were picking in whether we moved up or back a few spots. We went down to Austin and were able to work Bijan out. Took him to dinner the night before. Worked him out. Felt really good about it. No different than we did with Drake (London) the year before. Some of the things that we were going to ask him to do, you see it on the tape, with the background, not just the running back, the running back stuff was obvious on the tape, but the versatility part where you use him and where he has been effective. I mean, he did that at Texas at times, but his background, playing in the slot, was another big piece of it. That’s intriguing. We feel he is an explosive weapon, a home run hitter however he gets the football in his hands.

On the decision to pass on Georgia DL Jalen Carter for Robinson:

Smith: A lot of good players available. You can’t coach them all. You make the decisions. We collaborate, and there’s a lot of thought that goes into it. We do what we think is best for our team. There’s a lot of good players. It’s not about one guy. I understand the question and the intent of the question, because he is a player that was successful at Georgia, and they’ve had a lot of success in the last two years. There are a lot of good players there.

On whether they intend on using Robinson similar to how he used running back Cordarrelle Patterson:

Smith: You get in there, and you have a vision, but with a young player, you want to bring them along and make sure he is successful early. Him and CP (Patterson) are different football players. I know what you are talking about – they are unique where you can line them up, but their skill sets are different, so they’re not the same player. We didn’t take Bijan thinking he is CP. They do have a lot of versatility. No different than Kyle (Pitts) does. Kyle can play in the core, the slot or play outside, and then Jonnu (Smith), too. Jonnu can play a lot of different places as well. Just another explosive player that we can add to our offense. We’re really fired up that we were able to get him at eight.

On what it means to have multiple players that have the versatility to play in multiple spots on the field:

Smith: It allows you a lot of flexibility. You can get unique with your personnel packages. You can line up where it looks like 22 personnel, you can line up where it looks like 10 personnel, 11, get in the empty. It allows you to put a lot of stress even just pres-nap logistically as you are going on to the field, you know, the way we operate and play and we’ll evolve. There’s not – because we did something last year, if you look at our passing number from ‘21 to last year, I mean, you’re going to see them more balanced this year. The way we want to play and how we want to evolve as an offense as well. So Bijan, you know, obviously he can carry the football. That’s obvious but the other way you can find ways to get guys touches, whether first, second down, whether you’re talking about the screen games, talking about some of the intermediate stuff. So, we feel really good where we’re at skill-wise.

On the decision to go with Robinson over some quality defensive prospects at No. 8 overall:

Fontenot: Yeah, there were other good offensive players on the board, too, but we look at the impact that he is going to make on offense. Again, we’re not living in a box and saying that, hey, we can only take this position or that position. We’re not going to reach if we don’t feel good about things. So, the total picture of it, we really like what he is going to bring to the offense. We really like the impact that he is going to make on offense and this is a good draft. There are some other good players on the board. A lot of other positions. We’re excited about tomorrow. We’re going to bring in some good players, whether this next pick for us could be another offensive player, could be a defensive player, but it’s going to be a player that’s going to make an impact.

On what they believe has allowed Robinson to be so durable:

Fontenot: Yeah, just I think everything about him, he is a really mature young man. The ways he works, whether it’s prehab or the way he takes care of his body, he is already – it’s kind of unique because most of these players, they’re young, so they’re going to be a little immature but he is already a true professional. I’m sure you guys got to spend some time with him today already, and you can see who he really is as a person and the professional he is. We get excited about that. We get excited about when you put on the tape, he is usually the best player on the field out there. He has been like that for a long time in his life, and then whenever you meet the person and put the total picture together – we like to bring in guys that are going to make people around them better as well, and he is. He is going to come in, and the competitor he is, the person he is, we’re really excited.

On the moment during the pre-draft process when they knew Robinson was a player they could see being a part of this organization:

Smith: Like we talked about the other day, every interaction we have with the players matter. Another cool part about it when we went down to Austin is TQ (Ta’Quon Graham) showed up at the workout, a guy that had been his teammate, you could see their interactions and how much – how close they were as friends. Even TQ went with us to that barbecue place and got the biggest rib I’ve ever seen. I’m from Memphis, and I’ve seen a lot of good barbecues, and we were at Terry Black’s place down there. This thing looked like a dinosaur rib. TQ hammered that one away. Just those interactions. I mean, it’s real. It’s genuine. It’s not one of these phonies, ‘Hey, I’m made for Instagram’, or whatever social media, ‘I’m going to look good’, and then the guy is a complete fraud. This guy is authentic, and he is real, and he has a unique story.

On whether they ever considered trading back in the draft with the potential to still land Robinson:

Fontenot: You definitely weigh it. You definitely weigh when you are on the clock. You communicate with teams and really I say on the clock, even leading up to it. You communicate with teams and see what the price would be to move back, what you could get, and what you could pick up to move back. Then you have to weigh it and say, OK, if we’re going to pick up this draft pick or make this pick swap and move back this many spots and these are the players we’re going to be looking at because this could happen, you just have to weigh it out, and we did. That’s our job to – that’s part of the process to really weigh it out. Same thing we’ll do tomorrow. Whether we’re going to move up or move back, it’s all a weighing process. You want to do that, but when you feel good about the player and you want to take the player, and you say, OK, if we move back a few spots and we lose him, if you feel good about it and you have conviction, and we have a really strong conviction on him, so we didn’t want to risk anything.

Smith: Follow that up, too. One of the things that are just pretty obvious when you are talking about weighing the risk, certainly we had opportunities as Terry – I mean, they were working the phones. You do take that risk. I think what you are talking about, is conventional wisdom, he is a lot more than a running back. He’s an impact football player. He’s a home run hitter. The other part is you can see the corresponding moves like last year. When you are weighing taking a receiver early, we thought there was going to be a run on receivers. A lot of good players. If we go to every position, we may not get any receiver in the second round. Well, I think you saw a couple of picks later, the corresponding move. Kind of that’s the best answer I can give you. There’s cause and effect there. Certainly, we’re not in any other team’s draft rooms, but things become pretty obvious.

On whether they approach the draft differently than other teams after taking Pitts at No. 4 two years ago and now Robinson at No. 8 this year:

Smith: When you answer those, it’s like you’re sitting there trying to pat yourself on the back like we’ve done something. We have our beliefs and the way we operate, but that’s a lot of moves. Look at the other moves we have made. Not just the draft. You are trying to find value where you can. I think we tried to be creative. Certainly, the first few years, certain things we tried to work around to give us a chance to win and build the right culture around here. So, yeah, I think there’s a lot – like I always think about this business, there’s so much paranoia and insecurity and people want to crowdsource things and go with groupthink to be safe so they feel good right now. You know, if you – we’ll see. We’ll find out. We feel pretty damn good about where we’re at.

Fontenot: We really believe in our staff, whether we’re talking about the front office, the coaches. We believe in our building. We believe in our process. When we take players off the board, we love those players, and we have a lot of conviction, again, about the players and the people that we’re bringing into the building with what we’re trying to build here. It’s all important, and so we feel really good about the guys. You have to block out the noise and not care if it’s conventional or what different people say you should or shouldn’t do. You have to block out the noise and really believe in your building and your process, and we’re really excited.”

On whether they had Robinson circled on their board or whether this was just how the board fell to them:

Fontenot: Well, we got excited about him, right, and we got excited about the player. We didn’t buy Kaiden (Fontenot’s son) a Bijan jersey. He is getting to a point where I’m starting to worry about him a little bit because he wants to get a lot of information and wants to talk about stuff. He really loves this, but we had talked about something during free agency. I told him we were going to try to sign a particular player. So, he keeps texting me and asking me, “Hey, Dad, did you all do it yet?” He said, “Let me know when you do. I got something prepared.” I was, like, Whoa, buddy. It’s almost like he was going to tweet something out or a picture. I said, “No, you are not breaking news.” He is trying to get his followers up. So, no, we didn’t buy him a Bijan jersey because I just don’t know if he is going to wear it to school or something, but there comes a point in the process where you fall in love with a player or players, and it just depends on how it falls. We’re excited about Bijan, but we needed to go through the process of the draft. And the way it fell out, we’re real excited.

On what point during the pre-draft process they fell in love with Robinson:

Fontenot: It was kind of – I wouldn’t say one point, but it’s kind of everything together, right? You look at the boots on the ground, area scouts when they’re evaluating the players. Years ago, early in their careers, they’re evaluating them, and they have really strong grades on them on and off the field and the area scouts love them. They love the player. Then every step of the way all the way down to the workout, you get a workout, and you see him in person and what he is doing. It’s every part of the process. You look all the way back to the very beginning, to that first area scout that put a grade on him, and you loved him and graded him in the place that he did. I think it’s really the total picture.

On what type of reference did Texas coach Steve Sarkisian give Robinson:

Smith: A great one. I didn’t really know Steve before. Obviously, we have a lot of mutual friends. You cross paths with a lot of people, but that was another part of that visit, getting to spend time with him. You know, again, everybody – as you’re filtering through, I’ve had plenty of other coaches, they sell you, and that’s their job to. They may leave out some things that you find out later, like, eh, I wish I would have known that. That’s not the case with Bijan or anything Sark told us. It wasn’t just about the player too. It was about the impact he had in the locker room, the leadership that he had.

Fontenot: We really appreciate him, too. We try to go on a lot of these visits, and we did with other players as well, and just how welcoming they were in that facility (at Texas). The best thing is right when you walk in, there’s a picture of (Falcons assistant and former Longhorn) Jerry Gray. What would you call that hairdo?

Smith: I’ll send out the picture.

Fontenot: It’s one of these old-school hairdos. They’re very welcoming and allow us full access and let us do everything. That’s pretty cool because they’ve got a job to do. They’re in spring ball but for him to allow us to go there and spend all the time we did with him, and they’re wide open with everything, that means a lot.

On whether they’ve given it much thought that quarterback Desmond Ridder, Pitts, wide receiver Drake London, running back Allgeier and Robinson will play together for a long time:

Smith: You go back and look at what Jimmie Johnson did with Dallas, they did it a little bit differently, the game was played a little bit differently back then. It’s still football. The line of scrimmage. Just a good young core. When they added those guys, and that’s not the only example, but that’s probably a good reference point as well. It certainly helps when you are – when there’s consistency even with the staff when you’re not constantly learning new languages every spring. That helps. Certainly helps. Especially when we’re going to ask guys to play as many roles as we do, and we’ll bring Bijan along the right way too. Speaking of Tyler, Tyler is a very important part of this offense. They’re different players. You talk about how different and unique. You can look a lot at advanced metrics on the surface. You are like, hey, both of them are yards after contact players, but how they do that, they’re different, completely different. Tyler is like – you know when you watch the game go on, it’s like somebody that’s got a sledgehammer that’s bludgeoning through their line of scrimmage as the game goes on and wears you down. Where Bijan, his contact balance, the way he doesn’t go down and the way he is able to get explosives off that, they’re just different, the way that people will have to tackle them. They’re different players. If you look at that metric, they are both yards after contact. They both play running back. Similar to Jonnu and Kyle. They’re listed as tight ends, but they’re completely different players.

On whether Robinson can be a Derrick Henry-like player in this offense:

Smith: No, I have never asked somebody to be. That’s ridiculous. Derrick Henry is a (Hall of Fame) player. Derrick Henry is one of the most unique players I’ve ever been privileged to coach. If you really want to look at it and get in-depth, the way we ran the ball in ‘20 in Tennessee is completely different than how we ran it ‘22. Pretty similar in success. You look at the run game in ‘20 and the way we ran the football in Tennessee and the way we ran it last year, we didn’t run that kind of zone. That’s what I’m saying. On the surface everybody is, like, oh, running the football. Well, Derrick is unique. We’re not asking Tyler and would never ask a player to be something like that. The way we ran it last year in ‘22, very similar results as we had in ‘20 in Tennessee. Completely different run game. We were pistol. We were zone read. We did all kinds of different things. Surface narrative, oh, yeah, that’s not what we did. It’s not what we did in ‘21. We know what we need to get to and what we’re playing to achieve here. But that’s – so Tyler and Bijan and Caleb Huntley or CP, whoever is here, whoever is up on gameday, they’ll all have unique roles, but nobody will be Derrick Henry. I can promise you that.

On whether Robinson’s versatility excites him as the head coach and play-caller:

Smith: After the season coaches get into the scouting process. These guys have done so much work. It’s what I appreciate about our scouts. It’s my job too. We all have our opinions on the players, but then you get a group of guys, and these guys in the pot, even defensively, I’ve got – we have a great staff, and we collaborate on this, and we have a creative staff, and guys that are problem solvers. It’s, like, if we take player A, how do we make this guy successful? The easiest thing to do if you get down here is just to knock these guys, what they can’t do, this or that. I start making cut-ups of, all right, we get player A. What’s the vision? Where I think is he really strong. How does he fit us and where we push the limits to – So, with a guy like Bijan, I did the same thing with Kyle, Drake, or anybody we’ve taken, Tyler, anybody we have invested in, certainly early. Same thing on the defensive side. What’s their role? We did it with the free agents. Go back and watch Bud Dupree. Here’s what he did in Pittsburgh. Here’s what he did in Tennessee. A little bit different scheme. Here’s what’s always been his strengths. How would he fit us? Calais (Campbell), no different. He has played on the defensive line. Calais came in here, here’s what the vision was. I talked to (defensive coordinator) Ryan (Nielsen), Ryan talks to him, here’s how we play guys. Same thing. We try to make sure anybody we bring in here, certainly that we invest in like that, that here’s the vision for this player. And like an offense guy like Bijan, how creative can we be?

On what point during the draft did they feel confident that Robinson would be there for them at No. 8:

Fontenot: You never know until you’re on the clock. You never know until you’re on the clock, and we were trying to – you know, you talk to everybody. We have those conversations about moving back and moving up, and we talked to everybody, but, man, you really never know until you’re on the clock.

Smith: Somebody brought it up, too. You know, like, how much people lie in this thing. It’s so competitive. You sit back, and you look at it. Terry said it the other day, and he was right, it was so unpredictable. The last two years I think we were pretty confident, give or take. This one was chaos, other than one. I think that was the worst-kept secret for the last couple of weeks but you get down two and beyond, even people that you potentially had trade, nobody is going to tell you who they’re taking, but the way they try to put all this misinformation, that’s not what really happened. It was. Just thankful he was there.

On whether there were trade offers that he seriously considered:

Fontenot: We discussed, again, leading up to the pick, and we even discussed some things when you are on the clock, but you just have to weigh it out. You have to look at what you are really getting, and does it make sense because you don’t know if you move back three spots if someone else is taking the player or if someone else can jump and take a player. You just really don’t know. So, you have to weigh it out and say, okay, when you look at your stack of players, if we go back three spots, are we going to be good with this player and this additional pick that we’re getting? Is that really worth it? That’s what I love about our staff. When we are convicted and we love players and we want them, and you still have those discussions, but the same thing, there are some players we’re really excited about that are going to be on the board tomorrow. That’s what you are looking for, conviction and passion. You love these guys, and you talk about the young core. That is exciting because y’all have met all these guys. They’re good. You want your kids wearing these jerseys. You want to buy your kid a Bijan jersey or a Drake jersey. You want to buy your kids these jerseys.

Smith: Or (Chris) Lindstrom. Don’t forget the O-line because – he gets Kaiden the skill guys. I’m getting Big Liam (Smith’s son) a Lindstrom jersey or Jake (Matthews).

Fontenot: Kaiden has a (Younghoe) Koo jersey, too.

Smith: Or (David) Onyemata or Grady (Jarrett).

Fontenot: But you really do. You get excited about these players and the guys because of the type of people they are, too. They’re going to reach their ceilings because of who they are and their passion and you keep bringing those kind of guys in, and we’re really building something special, and we are excited.

On whether drafting Robinson changes how he intends on using Patterson or whether this affects his status on the team:

Smith: You want to evolve. CP took on a different role in ‘21 than last year. He carried the ball a lot more early in ‘22. We’re excited about the guys we have on this roster. It’s my job to get the most out of whoever is up and healthy on game day and do everything we can to win those games. As you look at it, some of it’s a numbers game, too. You know, you are talking about targets and carries and the way you are trying to get the football and spread it around. Like I said, you would like to get to the point where you balance. I don’t think you’ll ever get to it. If you did have 1,100 snaps and you’re going to go 5-55-50 because in some games you are hoping to be in more four-minute, but we want to be more balanced in how we get there. And that’s a good problem to have, but we have to make sure the way you target guys, again, you may call a play. It may be going to Drake. They roll the cover and double him. We have other weapons that can open things up. So, you want to pick your poison. So, we feel good. We’re moving in that direction.

On what goes through his mind as trades are happening during the draft and you get to pick No. 8 and Robinson is still there:

Fontenot: So you’re patient; right? Air time; right? You take a little time. You wait and answer calls and have you that communication. You have to cover your bases. Again, that’s our job. That’s our job to work to get the right value in all those years, so you answer the calls, and you take your time. But, man, we’re excited. We kind of had a feeling what Vegas was going to do, you know, in front of us. But still, you’re waiting. Once you get on the clock, you are excited, but you have to take your time and go through the process, but we’re pumped.

On not succumbing to the group think and having conviction in his draft selections regardless of public perception:

Fontenot: When you go through and you look at the history, and that’s what we do, and it really helps. When we look at the history and look at grades on draft grades or free agent grades or coaching hires and you look at the way critics are saying, a lot of times it’s wrong. Look, in the moment it can be something as simple as they had something different in their mock draft, and it’s fantasy football to whoever the publications are. But when you go back and look at the history, it is freeing because you see that, okay, those instant analyses aren’t always right. Sometimes the total other way. When you talk about players that are taken and how good the picks were and how good the signings were, and sometimes those are way off too. So, when you look at that stuff, then you just want to block it out. Again, our staff does a really good job of that. Blocking that out and let’s do what’s right for us and do what’s right for our team.

On whether he believes the running back position is undervalued:

Smith: It’s a personal opinion. I think he is a valuable football player. The impact you can have on your team, that’s the value. The value, the impact he makes, does he help you win games? I mean, there are a lot of guys that can stuff the stat sheet. You can have a lot of receptions, and you are playing a lot of two-minute and getting your teeth kicked in. You can have a great year. You can have 90-something catches and feel really great, but what was your impact on winning? So, I think a guy like Bijan, I mean, his impact. Same thing as Kyle. Kyle had statistically a great year in his rookie year. Then this year – been ad nauseam about that, too, but Kyle’s impact on winning, we felt it when Kyle wasn’t in there, I promise you that. We were trying to problem-solve or whatever, but that stuff is real. Obviously, you would like to get to the point where you’re rolling offensively and where everybody is – when you really get to that point, certainly, but you have to have the right mindset. The impact he will have on winning, that’s the same thing defensively. I remember guys that just pushed the pocket, and they open things up. We’ve seen guys get paid because they’re around a great player that’s an interior pressure player. The guy has one good year, and he gets paid. You never hear from him again. But the guy that pushes the pocket, he may never show up on that stat sheet. You may have some guru that maybe actually can watch it and see, hey, this guy has a pressure thing, but then they may just say, oh, well, he doesn’t have any sacks or quarterback hits. But he was the guy, like the RBI guy. It’s no different than sometimes on a route, certain coverages, they’re at the right depth. All that stuff matters. They have those extra things. That’s another underrated thing Drake did. A lot of other explosive runs, you see the guy that’s down the field, usually No. 5 (London). He didn’t have 15 catches and 300 yards, but the guy was able to help us win in different ways. Then he did have an impact. So, his impact is six catches for 80. Maybe he has a touchdown. But the impact he had down the field and created kept drives going and set up maybe explosive play later. Those are things that don’t show up, but when you have a vision – So I’ll get off my soapbox here, but the impact he has on winning is what we’re really fired up about.

AJC’S 2023 POSITION-BY-POSITION DRAFT SERIES

WIDE RECEIVERS – Past few drafts have spoiled NFL teams looking for wide receivers | Top 10 WRs

RUNNING BACKS – Running backs Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs may have to wait to hear their names called | Top 10 RBs

TIGHT ENDS – Notre Dame’s Michael Mayer heads a dee TE class | Top 10 TEs

QUARTERBACKS – Bryce Young’s small stature no longer an issue in the NFL | Top 10 QBs

OFFENSIVE LINE – Skoronski’s short arm length being scrutinized for left tackle | Top 5 C,G, &OTs

DEFENSIVE LINE – Is Jalen Carter the real deal or a potential bust? | Top 5 DTs, DEs

LINEBACKERS – Dutchtown’s Will Anderson expected to go in the top 5 of NFL draft | Top LBs

CORNERBACKS – Former Georgia standout Kelee Ringo one of the top cornerbacks in the NFL draft | Top CBs

SAFETIES – Alabama’s Brian Branch, Jordan Battle are top safeties in the NFL draft | Top FS/SS

SPECIAL TEAMS – Michigan’s Jake Moody hopes to kick way to NFL draft | Top STs

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