 This is now on the legacy on the watch of Terry Font. No, it's we turn the page But now I want to see how he maneuvers these nine picks this year This draft is the marker of what direction this organization is going to go in This is a new era of Falcons football This is a new page in the organization's story with this new front office and with this new coaching staff The coach and GM going into their second year the draft it is the foundation of where your team is built It's unlike any time of the year the process is so long and it's so methodical and it requires so many pages of reports It's a true Organizational team effort everybody feels a part of this thing because there's an opportunity to make your team better and better in a hurry I Love this time of year if you get it right and we know this you can change your franchise immediately Overnight you can become a different team if you get the right guys After the 2021 season the NFL draft really starts in Mobile with the Dresden senior belong final offices are there Most teams and tire personnel player personnel departments are there to see these guys And it's the first time that scouts get a chance to talk to players This is an opportunity for a lot of these coaches and GM's and Personnel people to actually sit down and talk to these guys and get to know these guys a little bit more than they do Just on what's on written on paper what they see on tapes important moments for some of these kids as they try to extend their careers When you're evaluating players you can't just you're never just gonna look at production and bringing the most productive players, right? We're looking at traits as we sit here at the senior bowl I actually like to watch from the top and I have my iPad right in front of me I can look up stuff and he likes to get right up close and really see him And so he's down there in the rain because he wants to be close to the players and that's a part of his process So that's important. That's how passionate he is about the evaluation process and that's special when you have Coaches the GM scouts they descend on these practices and they devour that practice tape One two three four times over and over again, and they get to meet with everybody It's a real opportunity to find guys that can stand out who may not be the juniors coming out But our guys that have earned the right to have the spotlight shine on them for one week in Lobia Right when we leave here the scouts are coming in on Monday, and we start our meetings all day You know every day and starting on the draft Setting that preliminary board getting the names up there going through the background the character the makeup the evals Talking it out for the first week and then watching the tape The February meetings are very important because it's just the scouts each area scout the national scouts over the top guys They can go through their area and and go by positioning and when there's a lot of passion on a player You really feel it in that room, but it's all just based off football That's what February meetings are is just just we always talk about paint the picture You know whether it's talking about the the character of the player or it's talking about the tape You know I should be able to shut my eyes and listen to you talk and and get a feel for the guy We got to find make sure that we got the right fit for us And so the scouts do a tremendous job. They've got a lot of the background Obviously, they've watched years of tape We get caught up and we give our opinion And then a day like we're saying here's how we coach this guy here's how it would fit And then you got around the scouts have done all the background checks to make sure that you're not There's nothing that you're missing. We want to know more about less as opposed to less about more So we don't want to board with 400 players up there. We want to board with 150 players and I'm just throwing numbers out there. It can be 125 We're gonna narrow it down to the players that fit us It's busy when the football fields are quiet in February You get all the scouts who don't all live in Atlanta. They live across the country, right? They all come home and it's a chance where you can be open and free with your opinion It's everyone's involved and and everyone has a voice and everyone we don't want group think we don't want everyone to agree We want everybody to have their opinions and the pains are based off of real research A lot of film a lot of gathering information for us the coaches is we're you know, we're kind of late to the party So we talk about collaborative. I mean the scouts have put years of work and getting to know the player Obviously we come in after the season and I try not to make snap judgments So I like to watch the tape to start out without reading the reports or creating any kind of bias And then there's constant conversations It's important not for the Falcons just to make a Terry Fontenot and Arthur Smith decision It's about a Falcons decision and that's when those Falcons decisions really start to be made What's coming next is the Combine and you start to actually see some of these players that we've been talking about again This is where the evaluations come into play We're excited to be here at the Combine and this is an important exposure We went through a very productive round of February meetings and now we get into this part of the process And I know different people see the Combine different ways But this is a very important exposure for us any touch point with the players that we can have is Critical if you handle this week the right way it can be very productive. So we're excited about being here it's a big puzzle the draft free agents everything's a puzzle and Every part of the process is a piece of that puzzle. So in the Combine interviews workouts numbers, you know Their body types all that stuff is extremely important. They're trying to Get measurable Tangible numbers that you can compare comparative statistics. How far can this person jump how far can how fast can this person run? And less 40s how fast can offensive linemen go 10 yards? How how agile is a wide receiver? How accurate is that quarterback and you see it on those workouts and that's important Well, the most important thing is the makeup We're we're here working to build a championship roster one player at a time and to build a championship roster You have to have championship makeup and you have to have the right kind of culture as you get to know Every one of these players, you know, it's you try to figure out how they learn what they're about what makes them tick because at the end of the day, this is a relationship business between coach and player and Understand how they learn best and this is just a small part of it as you're building this as you're building kind of the the entire Bio so when we get down in late in April, we make the best decision They know the makeup and how the kids wired. How does he work? How does he grind? How does he respond to adversity? What type of person is he teammate? You know, is it real? Is it fake? Is it fraudulent? You know all those things that that are so important of what we're trying to build here and it all starts It all goes back to makeup it all starts with makeup the measureables and the statistics and all those things matter It's all a part of the equation, but number one is always gonna be the makeup the further and further along in the process The more and more you get to know the player the closer and closer you get to the player I think at this point, we know who he is as a football player the combine and the pro day They're kind of like icing on a cake the confirmations of this physical skill set and what he's capable of doing The most important part of this process is getting to know the player at this point the person who the person is You want to bring good people you want to be bring people that you know will work You want to bring people who gonna be good representatives of the Atlanta Falcons? I think this is the part where you really get to know the person the person that you're bringing into the family Guys pro day listen pro day for a lot of scouts is even more important than the combine because you get the touch and feel them You get to put them through realistic drill that you're going to use on game day College pro day is kind of that one of the last major Checkpoints, so it gives you an opportunity to be comfortable in that environment But it also gives scouts an opportunity to talk to your family Your friends Coaches and that's really what the pro day is about pro days about answering any lingering question that you still might have about a player we start going to the pro days and Private workouts and this is a really important exposure because you get to get a good feel for these players and see how they're wired Who's football smart all those exposures are really important We are counting down now literally it's been months and then weeks and now it is literally days and hours before we find out Where this draft is going to go? This is that keep your head down in grind mode. This is when you are pouring over Information remember the scouts have gone out and they've gone out and looked at players. They're looking at tape You broke down pro days you looked at what they did at the combine So there's a lot of number crunching. There's a lot of film There's a lot of where do we see these guys in our system? this time of year obviously optimism runs runs higher and We're excited because there's a there's unknown. There's excitement It's the closest thing you're gonna get until the season starts a little bit of adrenaline rush Thursday Friday and Saturday Five picks in the first 82 selections. You have an opportunity to draft five legitimate players who could either make it an immediate impact and or Contribute to the long-term prosperity of this roster You have got fantastic players that have the chance of turning around the fortunes of an NFL team Over three days of the NFL draft and the teams that can do it great are the ones that have the most success Are you ready for the NFL draft? This draft is the big one for Terry Fontenot because I think this starts his clock But we also get a chance to see our team Change a little bit tonight. We get a chance to see what direction this team is going to now take And there's so many options that we can go with tonight at eight overall There's so much work that's been done and if you're disciplined you've got a process like you're gonna feel calls you know guys trading around and you You need to plan ahead and if you don't you don't want to get to be a prisoner of the moment and overreact And that's where I think a lot of mistakes are made so you guys stay disciplined There is an excitement like there's a clock one and down But you've got to trust your process and not overreact and just be a prisoner in a moment You never know what's gonna happen on draft day, especially when you're at eight there seven variables in front of you And so you really don't know what's gonna be there at eight So we have to make sure we stack the players and we feel very good and very comfortable with what's going to be there And we talk about this a lot about how the the person and the makeup is the most important thing for us Once we were able to pull that magnet off the board. We're really excited Drake Yes, sir. How you doing man? Good. How are you? Want to be a Falcon? Yes, I've been wondering to go there ever since I met y'all no doubt man. No doubt man Look, we're excited about getting you here in the building We know the way you're gonna go to work and you're gonna be a part of something special. All right, ma'am The Atlanta Falcons select Drake London wide receiver USC They're gonna play tall ball in Atlanta with Kyle Pitts and Drake London. That's a basketball team They're putting together there for Marcus Mariota and obviously there's a lot of guy giving talent there He's also a very tough competitive smart He fits all those characteristics and all the intangibles that he fits He fits our ethos and we knew that he'd be a great fit here Hey, hey What's up? How are you doing? How you doing man? I'm doing great man. You want to be a Falcon? Hell, y'all better go. You ready to come to Atlanta? Ready. Let's do it. You ready to be a Falcon? Yes, sir. All right. I took this on because they don't know Hey, hey listen everything happens for a reason right? Hey, Daniel How you doing? You ready to roll? I can't wait. I'm ready. All right, man. You want to be a Falcon? Yeah, I'd love that coach first down second down third on in fourth down. All right from picky right here If you want to be a Falcon you want to be a Falcon? We're fired up to have you and congratulations. Yes, sir. Thank you so much If you'd have told me these are the eight players that we'd drafted I would have wouldn't have believed I would have said There's there's no way they're the right eight for us Again, not just because of all the talent that they have But because of who they are as human beings when you go all the way back from the beginning to now If you'd have told me these are guys we're getting I wouldn't believe and we just couldn't be more excited What an incredible weekend it was for our Atlanta Falcons from just an athletic wide receiver standpoint What he can do He's a really good player Arnold epic Katie from Penn State who if you look at the highlight reel I mean crazy one-band gang I like the pic. I think he's explosive. He is a guy that rushes the passion Troy Henderson brings that element He's going to be able to come in and run around and make place for you I feel good about Ritter. They liked him from the start. We know what we're getting in Desmond Ritter He played a lot of games at Cincinnati. He's a quarterback. He knows what he's doing to his love alone He's got a little bit of size on him, but he's a stud that the resume speaks for itself Tyler Algier I love this bit. This guy runs so hard Mike and he's gonna come in. He's gonna compete. We got some dogs Shaper can plug in a guard. I like that Fitzpatrick is a great pick for this team He is a worker dude talk to anybody at Georgia. They love him. They'll tell you this guy comes ready to work I like this draft. I like what we did I like the way they addressed all the needs and how that this thing filled out We're taking one step at a time We're thinking about today and everything that we have to do today to get better. We believe in that locker room We're gonna continue to add and we're gonna continue to get better And we're gonna go out there and compete at every single thing we do You should believe because we're gonna focus on the process focus on the details and we're gonna get better every day