 You know, pleased to have Terry Fontenot join us after a story 16 year career in New Orleans and has had great experiences with the Saints, not only working with one of the leading GMs in the league, Mickey Loomis, but also with a great coach, Sean Payton. And I'd say both Mickey and Sean, you know, by reputation and by actuality, they both, you know, demand very high bar, very high standards, when it's excellent, it's got to be that and even better. And so Terry's been groomed in that environment and has produced in that environment. Obviously the Saints, we know how well they've done for a long period of time and, you know, maybe is a chance now, Drew, maybe retiring, we have a chance to go back and compete again. But we're very fortunate that Terry was one of the leading candidates that we spoke with. And we're just thrilled to have him as part of our team. I did get a phone call last night from his general manager, Bert Cahn and Mickey Loomis, who I don't think Mickey would mind me saying this, who said, I mean, really, the truth of the matter is he's not young enough, he's not old enough to retire. And I wasn't going to retire, that Terry was going to be in my replacement. You know, we think he's really one of the bright young minds in the NFL today, tremendous training, tremendous leadership. And so, you know, I feel really good about about getting that phone call. And I didn't ask for it, we didn't reach out, but he just made it, which was very kind of him to do that. So without further ado, I'm going to turn it over to Terry. So you guys, I'll take your questions for me if you have any myself or Rich, he's on the call obviously today. And then we'll turn it over to Terry. You guys ask as many questions as you'd like. All right, for a quick question from Jason Buth, AJC. Yeah. Hey, Arthur. Just want to know whether it was before this particular search or not. Just when did you first know who Terry Fontano was and when did he kind of first pop up on your radar as somebody who could become a GM in the NFL? I actually did not know who he was. And maybe Rich did, I'm not sure, but I actually did not know. I knew who he was and we had a relationship with Mickey. Thomas Demitrov, our general manager, had a good relationship with Mickey and worked with him. Thomas probably knew of Terry. Terry might know that or not. I don't know. But so I actually did not know. All the research we did kept pointing to him and a few other people as well that have some really good credentials that were ready to step to the next level. And but I think once you had a chance to visit with him, we did several times. It was, you know, a little more complicated with Terry because their team was playing in the playoffs and, you know, Coach Smith was not. So it was easier for us to spend time with Coach Smith and he came to Atlanta. Terry didn't have the opportunities coming to Atlanta this this week with his family the end of this week with his family and be here for the first part of this coming week. So I'm anxious that I just had a chance to meet his children on a Zoom call a minute ago. So he's got three very beautiful kids. I'm sure he's got a beautiful wife as well. But he's extraordinarily well, you know, well rounded, not just on the pro side, but and ask him the question. But he spent quite a bit of time in the college side as well. So his experience level was very high. And all the references we got him and probably want to go back and redo his contract. Now they'll say this, but we couldn't find anything about him that was not a positive. I think which would attest to that as well. So at what point did you realize that his philosophy and Arthur Smith's philosophy were in line with one another? Well, that's a really, you know, that's a really good, good question. Because at the outset, we didn't know that. I mean, we interviewed, you know, Terry first, as I remember, and then we interviewed Coach Smith and, you know, it seemed like there was connection. And then the next time around, we had a chance to do a touch base with Terry and you ought to ask him, let's do his credit, you know, one of the candidates that we we think is a highly capable guy we did interview was Joe Brady. And Terry had a relationship with him for a couple of years. He worked for the Saints show, but he already had reached out, you know, to a number of the other other coaching candidates, not just not just Coach Smith, but a number of the candidates and was already developing relationships. So one of the earlier phone calls we had with Terry after the first one. I mean, he already had been talking football vision with Coach Smith and what he wanted to do, his view of how they would work together, you know, together with the coach and general manager relationship expectations of each. So it was very clear after that, we spoke at length with Terry because never want Terry's their coach's career to have them work together, not philosophically, being an agreement on the collaboration that we know is necessary. Best teams in the NFL have great collaboration, probably in every institution or organization for that matter outside of the NFL at the very top. That doesn't mean styles can be different than, you know, other things can be different. But philosophically, their culture and core values are really the same. And I think these two gentlemen really shared all that together. And they did it behind the scenes before we even discussed it with them. Go to Jeff Schultz from the Athletic. Yeah, Arthur, I actually have a question spinning off. You're just before the Zoom started, you were talking about how exhausting this is. You've been through this a few times, obviously now, both for both coaches and general managers. And I'm wondering if you've learned anything about the process, both in terms of how difficult it's going to be, how difficult it is on you, but also what expectations, if any, you should have coming out of it? Well, I think, I think, Jeff, you know, I've gotten some, you know, you asked, you know, earlier, Coach Smith, I don't think it was huge yet, it may have been you. I'm sorry for asking the question, but, you know, what they learned from what he learned from other coaches along the way. Well, I've had some owners along the way to, you know, kind of put their arm around my shoulder and said, you know, as you're looking for coaches or general managers, you know, this is the council I'll give you. I remember I got one phone call. It was, you know, a great, great owner and great family and very helpful to me in quiet ways with giving me guidance. And John Marra was gone as well as father, I should say, Wellington Marra. And one of the things they both said to me independently at different times was that if you're going through a search for a coach or a general manager, you need to have a sense of urgency because you want to interview as many people as you can, but not be rushed. So I think it was very important in both cases to take our time, do the interviews, don't jump to judgment, make sure we listen and hear from everybody. And actually the process is very good, very good because you hear from a number of GM candidates in this case and coaches about their, although it's kind of surface superficial, but you hear about their evaluation of your team. And I said that's the rich and I may have even said it to Terry, I don't know, but one of the things that was very interesting to me is that all of these coaches, GM candidates, you all pretty much saw our team the same way. You pretty much saw our talent the same way. A lot of that was consistent with internally what we would say as well, but some of it was not. And that was interesting because it's like, we all have children, not all of us, but a lot of us have children and you tend to form other your own children. Sometimes you have some blind spots with your kids. So I think that part of it for me is always very interesting. I don't want to do it every year. Well, obvious reasons, but it is interesting I think when you listen to a number of other people, that are pretty bright talent, you know, played against us, started against us, Terry would be a good example because he's played against us twice a year for 16 years. So, he knows our team and knows it well. You know, and I think, and then the other part of that, which I've learned and gotten some good counsel and coaches on this, including people like Pete Carroll that, you know, you want to put staff together as quickly as you can, but you don't want to rush to do that either. You want to interview as many people as you can, like Terry will talk about how he's going to interview, you know, a number of our people in personnel. We think we have a lot of great people. You know, he may want to make a few changes here and there. I don't know that's up to him to do that, but, you know, take your time, understand who's there, understand who else you may want to bring in from the outside, et cetera. But don't rush to do it because there are opportunities. And, you know, as you know, we have our championship games is coming Sunday and then we have the Super Bowl. So there are going to be some coordinators or position coaches available, but it's still playing now. So you can't always just grab, quote on grab, if you will, who's available and who's on the street now. You need to be patient with that. Thank you. Sure. Any other questions for me? All right. Open up to Terry Fontenot at this time. All right, guys. Look, first of all, I want to thank you all for being here. I know the press conferences were spread out, but I really appreciate you guys making time for this and being here. I want to thank Arthur Blank, Rich McKay, Rustin Webster, everybody involved in the process because it wasn't easy necessarily going through the process when you're focused on your team, you're in the playoffs, and that was a challenge. But I think you learn a lot about an organization in that process and the entire time they were very respectful of the Saints, very respectful of my time, and they're willing to wait for me. And that means a lot to me because every team wouldn't do that. But I can tell they had a lot of conviction on me. They were very confident in my abilities and really wanted me as their general manager. And that means a lot to me. So the process couldn't have been more transparent and smooth. So I really appreciate that. Before I get into anything, I want to acknowledge my family. When they're actually here right now, they're all wearing their Falcons gear that they got in this morning. They're really excited about it. I have a beautiful wife, Arthur, she is beautiful. I have four beautiful children, three girls and one boy. Landry, London, and Lenox, we call her Baby Lenny, and my lone wolf, Caden. They're really excited to come to Atlanta. They're really smart, intelligent kids, that they're athletic. So there's gonna be a school and a park that's gonna be really excited to have them as a part of their community. Look, it's really hard on families. It's anybody that works in this business. They know how difficult it is on families. And just the challenges of our jobs and how much we're away and all the sacrifices they make, it's not easy on them. And my wife is the star and she makes it work. And I'm blessed to have a family like this and they allow me to work as hard as I need to work and they're so into it and they're so supportive. So I'm blessed to have a family like this. Also our, not just my immediate family, but my entire family is very supportive. If I go back to my parents, my parents, and I'm one of seven, my siblings. I don't have as many brothers and sisters as Arthur Smith does, but I'm one of seven, I'm right in the middle. And my core values, my work ethic, my passion, my strong faith, my optimistic disposition, that comes from my family. That comes from the way I was raised and that's really important to me. Same with my wife, she has amazing parents and an amazing family and they made her who she is. And look, both of our families are, we're both from Lake Charles, we met in high school and they're all displaced right now. We have a lot of family in Lake Charles that is displaced with the horrible storms that everyone dealt with and that's difficult. And our prayers go out to everyone in Lake Charles and we're gonna help as much as we can through that process. But they've really made us who we are. I wanna talk about my New Orleans family. Starting with Mickey Loomis, 18 years ago, Mickey Loomis pulled in a 20 year old kid. I'm sorry guys. That's all good, it's all good. Take your time, Terry. And he really gave me the opportunity of a lifetime in not just my professional growth, but my personal growth. He's done so much for my family and not just Mickey. The entire Saints organization starting with the late Mr. Benson, Mrs. B, Dennis Lauscia, Sean Payton, they've done so much for my family over for nearly two decades, top to bottom in that building. The people, so many great coaches and so many great front office people they've done so much for me and my family. And I feel horrible because I've got like over 500 texts and I haven't responded to many of them, but I love you guys, I promise I'm gonna go through each one of them and figure out a way to respond to everybody's texts because you've meant so much to me and my family from the locker room all the way up to the front office throughout the entire building, I love you guys. And then I wanna talk about the Falcons organization because leaving an organization like the Saints, I had a great job and I'm in a great situation in New Orleans, so I wouldn't just leave for any opportunity, but when the Falcons wanted to interview me right away, that's intriguing to me, not just because of this great city or this great organization, but somebody told me to read the author Blank's book, I hadn't read it. And when you read that book that really says something about who he is as a person, something that I already knew from the outside looking in, but just his core values, his principles, he wants to win and he has a high standard but he wants to do it the right way. He wants to have sustained success and he wants to do it with the right people. And that speaks to me, the way he wants to run his organization, every organization that he has, he operates with principles. He's a family man, I got to meet Max and Josh on the interview and I already have, I'm building relationships with them and it's a special family and from author Blank, from Rich McKay, it's something that I really want to be a part of, so I couldn't be more excited to move forward with this group and be a part of this city, be a part of this region and to work hard to bring sustained success. I couldn't be more excited about Arthur Smith. He's special and I think you can tell right away when you meet somebody and you connect with them that you haven't had a previous relationship with and it's no different than when you're a scout, if you're evaluating a player, you look at everything. You dig into the resources, you're gonna look into the stats and you're gonna really cast a wide net and gather as much information as you can and it was all consistent with Arthur. I think the most important thing, the most critical factor with the right head coach is to have the right leader of man. You want a good man, a good person, that is a good communicator, that does the right things. He has principles, he operates the right way. He can connect to players throughout the entire roster. He can connect with everyone in the building. He's gonna be a good communicator. He's highly intelligent and he's adaptive because it's one thing to have a specific scheme that you like, but he's adaptive and he's gonna work hard to maximize the players he has. And he's gonna have a vision for what he wants and he's gonna maximize the players he has. So everything, all of our communication has been really good and I got really excited about Arthur. And look, my job as a general manager is to be a resource for him. It's my job to make him the best head coach he can be. It's my job, we're gonna have a vision for this team and it's gonna be a partnership and we're gonna work together. But it's my job to make sure he can focus on football, focus on the team and I make sure everything else is right. So we're gonna get the right people in the building. We're gonna focus on the process and we're gonna have a clear vision for what we're looking for. So I couldn't be more excited about Arthur Smith. Look, we both understand where we are as a team. We understand the salary cap and we understand that, hey, we're gonna make decisions to have sustained success. We're not gonna be prisoners of the moment. We're not gonna make decisions that are gonna help us in 2021 but you're gonna hurt us in 22 and 23. We're gonna think big picture and do the right things because the goal here is to build the team the right way and have sustained success. I know there's a lot of good players on this roster. I know there's some areas we need to address and I respect you guys and I understand you have a job to do but I don't believe this is the time to talk about specific players on the roster. It's, I don't think it's fair at the point that we're in the process and it's not fair to the players or the staff. So again, I understand you're doing your job but I don't think it's the time to discuss that at this point. Again, I know Arthur is really working hard on the coaching staff right now. It's critical. It's gonna be critical. We're always gonna prioritize character. We're always gonna focus on the culture. We're gonna get the right people in the building on the bus. We're gonna be a process driven organization. I believe in servant leadership. It's my job to be a servant to everyone in the organization and to make sure that everyone has everything they need to be successful and we're gonna be a culture of competition. We wanna bring in good players at every position and we wanna continue to add top to bottom on this roster and continue to bring competition. I believe that this is a, I don't believe in accomplishments. I believe in opportunities and I believe this is a great opportunity for me. It's a great opportunity for Arthur Smith. I don't take it for granted at all. I'm just so excited to get started and I actually have one thing and I'll let you guys ask questions. So, Vaughn McClure, look, I had a relationship with Vaughn McClure and it's really weird. It's like, it's not normal for a person like, a person like me to have a relationship with Vaughn McClure because I'm in the front office for a rival team and he's a writer. And I say we had a relationship. It's not like we text. I probably saw him two or three times a year prior to a game or say it at a league event. But for some reason, every time I saw him, I felt like we were best friends because he was such a nice person. He had such a good energy about him and he was so positive. After I would talk to him, I would walk away feeling really good about myself. He was such a good person and that always stuck out to me. So last time I talked to him, he was at the senior role and I was on my way to, we're on our way to practice. Me and a couple of guys, we stopped to get a coffee at a coffee shop and he was in the coffee shop and he was working on a story and he yelled at me and said, hey, font no. He said, I'm working on a story and you're going to be in it. It was a story about basically the upcoming candidates, minority coaching candidates and minority general manager candidates. He said, Terry, I've been doing a lot of research and I'm hearing some really good things about you. And he said, I think you're going to get a job or you're going to get an opportunity in this next cycle. That's the last time I talked to him. So imagine in October, when I saw this, the tragic horrible death, like that just, that hit me hard. And again, this is somebody that I just saw a couple of times a year, but I felt like we had a strong connection. So then I read, an article came out right around that time and it talked about him as a person. It talked about how endearing he was to the people around him, how he was always trying to help people around him. It talked about, it actually showed an email in the article where he had emailed his boss and said, hey, tell me what I can do to get better. So it said, tell me, I want to be the absolute best in my job. So tell me what I can do to get better. And that spoke to me because I believe that's what you're looking for. That's what you're looking for in coaches, scouts, players, everybody in the organization. You want people that are going to be great teammates. You want people that are going to help the people around them. And you want people that are going to be humble enough to listen and try their best to get better. My favorite poem or my favorite Martin Luther King speech is the street sweeper speech. And it doesn't even do it justice. If you read it, you gotta listen to him say it. But, and it's really about whatever you're doing, whatever God has called you to do, do it with passion, do it with intensity, focus on the details, how you do anything is how you do everything. Focus on the details and really take advantage of that job. And that's really how I see it. When you have a special organization, that's what you have. You have a lot of people top to bottom, regardless of what their responsibility is, they have passion and intensity in everything they do. And they're great teammates and they want to help people around them. And they're humble enough to listen, whether it's myself or whether it's an intern, they're humble enough to listen and work hard to get better. So I just wanted to just really acknowledge him, give my condolences to you guys, to his family. And even though I only saw him a few times a year, he actually, he had an impact on my life. Terran, I've heard Connie do that. Thank you so much. He was not only a very competent writer, but he was a caring person. And he, whenever he had to write something that was not going to be really positive, he always did it, but he didn't take any joy in it. So, but thank you for recognizing that. He was very close to a lot of the people that you'll be chatting with there in a minute. So on behalf of his family, I appreciate that. Thank you. Yes, sir. All right. At this time, we'll open up to questions in order of submission. Jason Butt from the AJC. Hey, Terry. Thanks for doing this. And thanks for saying that about Vaughn too. I wanted to ask you, when did you first start to hear or learn about Arthur Smith, that whether it was during this process, whether it's been over the last few years, and what's going to make this working relationship successful between the two of you? Okay. First of all, Darryl, I've listened to a million Falcons press conferences and you're always the first question. Always. So the fact that you don't have a question for me, that hurts my feelings. I'm just letting you know. And I like the bow tie, but I expected a question from you first, so. No, your problem is with David, not me. I was right, you go. So, so look, that's a, and you asked about Arthur and when I was aware of him. So I would say as a scout or as a person in the front office, it's your job to always, whether it's college coaches, whether it's NFL coaches, you should always be working on that. You should just like to evaluate players, you need to be evaluating coaches as well and looking at who the successful coaches are. And the difficult part about that is we have a lot of really good coaches in the Saints building. I think we have a lot of really good head coaching candidates in, but you don't want to be just a prisoner of your immediate circumstance or your immediate area. You want to make sure you look out and you continue to evaluate outside. So, so I would say over the last couple of years of what he was doing in Tennessee, I was intrigued by him and I started doing my own research. Now I didn't connect with him until this year, but I respected him from afar for really the last couple of years. And then I communicated with people that have been with him, whether it was in Washington when he was a defensive assistant or right when he was starting out in Tennessee. So you have so many people that you're close with that you can get when you get information from somebody from 10 years ago or from when they were in college and it's all a consistent message. I think that speaks a lot to him. And in this collaborative effort between the two of you, who's going to have the 53, who has the 48? And then just on top of all that, how prepared are you for this role being a GM for the first time? Yeah, so we, me and Arthur discussed that and we talked a couple of days ago as or yesterday when my contract was getting done and he had already gotten this contract done and we had a long discussion. We talked about different areas of the building. We talked about the roster and it doesn't matter. And when I say that I'm being honest, it doesn't matter who has the 53 or the 46 or the 90 or who's in charge of this department because we're going to communicate about everything and we're going to be aligned and we're going to have, look, I'm not just going to agree with him all the time. He's not just going to agree with me. We're going to, it's our job to really have those spirit of discussions and for us to be honest with each other and us to be open and inclusive in our communication. So it, and when I say this, I know it may sound cliche, but it doesn't matter because we're going to make Falcon decisions. And when something happens and it goes really well and maybe we're on a, I wanted something he didn't, it doesn't matter because it's going to be a Falcon decision. All of our decisions are going to be that way. And your other question was in regards to why we're going to work well together. And how prepared, and how excited are you to have this opportunity 18 years in here? Yeah, I'm really excited and I feel prepared and I would say the reason I feel prepared is because coming from New Orleans, New Orleans is a culture of inclusiveness and openness and it's also a culture of development. And I think that's really important. And when I say that is it's not where I cut my teeth in the pro scouting department. You can have some people that cut their teeth in the scouting department or on the salary cap and you have general managers that come from different expertise, but and sometimes in certain organizations, they can just be stuck in that mold and stuck in that role. But in our organization, we're inclusive. We're Mickey Loomis and Kai Harley are in charge of the cap and they manage the cap. And yet I'm able to be involved in that process. And where Jeff Ireland is in charge of the college scouting department, I'm able to be involved in that process. We're very close to our coaches and we're heavily involved in the entire process, whether it's the entire week getting prepared for the game. So it's an inclusive organization. It's an organization of development. And that's the same thing we're gonna have here. It's important to have people involved in all areas and there has to be a trust. You have to trust people and but we're gonna be a culture of development here as well. Thank you. Tori McElhaney from The Athletic. Hi, Gary, it's nice to meet you. Hi, nice to meet you. I wanna go off this whole idea of culture of development. And you really are somebody who's seen that in his life. You talked about coming into the Saints organization at what, 22 years old. When you look back at that time, what do you feel as though you did to climb the ladder and to stand out to kind of get you to where you are right now? Yeah, and I wouldn't say there's any, one thing that's one dynamic area or one, I think it's just consistency. And again, the first thing Mickey told me is, hey, if you put your head down and you continue to work hard and you focus on the details and how you do anything is how you do everything. So you make sure you're consistent in what you do. Then you're gonna have opportunities to be successful. So as I would say, it's more so consistency and humility, being willing to listen because there's so many good people around you. And again, coaches, scouts, you're gonna be players. There's a lot of good people around you. So you have to be willing to listen and willing to learn, willing to adapt. So I've been blessed to be around some really good people. And still I'm continuing to learn. I feel like anybody I meet, I wanna learn something from them. So I feel like I had that mindset. And again, being in the type of culture I was in, I was able to be exposed to every area of the building. My second question is kind of just getting into the nitty gritty of it a little bit. What were your initial thoughts when looking at roster construction, when looking at the salary cap and kind of how are you planning to attack the next couple of months in maybe a short-term plan? Yeah, it starts off with self-scout and our assessment. So as the staff gets in, I think it's really important for them to really drill down to the details of the roster, just like, and I know the people that have been in this building, they've done that already, but I need to do the same thing where I know the roster and yet I need to really drill down into the details and do it along with Arthur Smith. And once the coaches are in, we need to have extensive meetings with them and really look at this roster and really determine how we feel about each player on the roster, where they are in their careers, what's their plan for development or what's their plan for maintaining them. So really understand this roster and where we are. And from there, now we can assess, hey, where are our major areas of need? Where do we have surplus? We can really assess our roster and then we can develop our plan for the off-season from that point. That's the most critical area and that's important because that's gonna be our first time to really get on the same page with the coaches and understand what they're looking for with players. And so it's gonna be an important time for us to work along with them and again and set the stage for what we're gonna do this off-season. Will McFadden from AtlantaFalcons.com Hey, Terry, welcome to Atlanta. Thank you, man. Given everything that you just said, do you feel like you maybe are a little bit ahead of the curve from where somebody else might be because you are coming from New Orleans and you've seen the Falcons two years for every year you've been in the NFL, that's a great point. And look, I do feel like I have a better feel like I did four interviews or excuse me, interviewed with four different teams. And when I interviewed with the Falcons, I did feel like I knew the team a lot better because you've been able to see the team from my vantage point. But it's also, I can't wait to get to Fly-Ree Branch. William, because it's important to see it from that vantage point too, to be in the building. To be able to communicate with everybody in the building and really understand the roster even better. Because look, you assess the roster from your standpoint, from where you are, but there's other factors as opposed to just watching film. It's about who the players are. It's about their make-ups and there's a lot of other factors. So yes, I felt like I knew the Falcons a little bit better from being in the division and yet getting in the building and building relationships with everyone in the building and really getting to know the players is important. Makes sense. The Falcons are in the midst of a three-year playoff drought. The Saints from 2014 to 16 found themselves in the same spot. Since then, they've won the division for four straight seasons. What were some lessons learned within the organization that maybe helped them get back on track and reverse course and go on to have success? Yeah, good question. And I would say number one with the Saints because we've had a helpful roster turnaround. If you think about it, we had after Hurricane Katrina, this is 0-5, we had significant roster turnaround and we went from winning three aims to winning 10 games. That was significant. And then we had a stretch where we lost for we had three straight, seven to nine seasons and we're able to really shift the roster. And I believe it's number one, we're always focusing on makeup and makeup isn't just, I know that can sound like a broad term, but we're focusing specifically on the character of the end of it. We want a smart, tough, competitive football team. And yes, we're gonna focus, we want prototypes, we want big, we want fast, we want competitive players. So we're gonna focus on areas, but we're gonna focus on the makeup. And it's easy to say that, but we have to be detailed in our process and how we're assessing intelligence and detailed in our process and how we're assessing the football character, the personal character, all the details. And it's about working with the coaches and making sure we're going through the details of that process and making sure we're bringing the right people in the building. I would say the culture in our locker room in New Orleans is excellent. And again, I believe the Falcons have a good culture, so I'm not, you know, but I believe our culture is excellent. And I believe we're focusing on bringing in the right types of players and really the right types of people in the building. So I would say that's made a significant difference for us with the Saints. Thank you. Do you remember Ledbetter, AJC? Yes, Terry. What made this job attractive to you? I know it's only 32, but what was especially attractive about this job with the Atlanta Falcons? Daryl, did you just make up a question to say something? Because like six people went and you're finally asking a question. Did you just make that up? It's on my list right here. It's been here all day. Question number one. I got like 12 questions, but they only give us two. Oh goodness. I just went to the top of the list. I got 12 others for later on, but that's my number one question today. I mean, I got a pretty good follow up for you too. That's actually a really good question. I appreciate that question because it is, I wouldn't, when I'm in a place that I appreciate so much, and I'm not the type of person that is looking for a job. Matter of fact, I told this to every time I interviewed with, my goal isn't to be a general manager. That's not my goal. Like I'm not just trying to be a general manager anywhere I can be a general manager. My goal is to be a part of an organization that I feel good about. And then I know we can win championship. So it starts where I know for us in New Orleans, it starts with the leadership. It starts with Ms. Gale, Ms. Benson, and her commitment to winning and her standard. And New Orleans is such a, with the fans and everything and the culture and the city, that's important. And in New Orleans, they have that with Arthur Blank as much as I respect him because it's important for me not to just build a team that can win but it's about winning the right way. And so that right away, starting with ownership, that made, got me excited about this job and really throughout the entire process. I mean, the first interview might have been four hours. The second interview was extensive too. And in every step of the way, I really felt really good about it and really good about the opportunity. You know, it's attractive to have a former, really two former GMs in the building. That are really good people that you can learn from because I understand that I'm 40 years old and I'm 18 years in the business, but I've never sat in that seat and I understand there's different challenges when you sit in that seat. I've been blessed enough to be around Mickey that shares so much with me to be able to draw from his experiences. But I don't know if Mickey's gonna always take my calls anymore. So I need people close to me that can really help me throughout the process. So starting with ownership and then going down to the group and look, there were some, again, I understand we have some challenges, but there are also some really good players on this roster. So top to bottom, I was really excited about the opportunity. And then, you know, today here, we're talking about putting Bill Nunn in the Hall of Fame long overdue from the scouting side. And you've been the first African-American here as the general manager's post, as the historical part of it hit you there as we are in changing times. Yeah, look, it's really a blessing. I'll say that. And what I, again, I don't look at it like an accomplishment. I look at it like an opportunity. I've gotten so many special text messages from so many people, but I take it as a challenge because I need to be successful. I need to do things the right way and operate and be successful. Or that's not fair to the people that are gonna come after me. My son's nine years old and he's gonna be GM. That's what he told me already. So I need to make sure I operate a certain way and I do things the right way. So he's gonna have a great opportunity when it's his time. So, look, I appreciate that. I definitely understand that, but I see it as more of a challenge and an opportunity as opposed to an accomplishment. Thank you. Justin Seller from Fox Five. Hey, Terry, congratulations and welcome to Atlanta. Thank you. I have a simple question about a complex topic, but these are phrases you hear a lot about drafting philosophy. Do you believe in drafting the best player available or drafting more so based on a team's needs? Do you, are you a pretty good guitar player, acoustic? Very poor guitar player, but I try. I like it. So yeah, good question. And I definitely believe that it's our job to, you never wanna reach for needs. I mean, I think it's cool listening to like Ozzie Newsom tell stories about where there were certain players on the board in certain areas and they took the best player available and he ends up taking Hall of Fame players as opposed to reaching for a need. So I would say we never wanna reach for needs. We wanna stack the board and we wanna be consistent and it's never a bad thing to add to a strength. You wanna get good football players because it's a long season, there's a lot of injuries, a lot of things happen, there's a lot of challenges. So you never wanna, at any position, you wanna continue to add competition and you wanna get the best players that fit the makeup standard, that fit the physical talent, that fit the skill set. And we have a clear vision for what they're gonna be. Then you definitely wanna take those, the best player, but thank you. To Nature Batiste, 92-9. Hey, Terry, congratulations. And from a fellow Louisianaian, welcome to Atlanta. What part of Louisiana are you from? Born in New Orleans, raised in Homa. In Homa? Are you kidding? So what high school did you go to? Terrible in high school. Awesome, good deal. Yeah, so congratulations. And I wanted to follow up and I promise this is the question I had in play already, but wanted to follow up on something you said about what Vaughn had mentioned, but also what D-Lev mentioned earlier. As one of two African-American GMs hired this off season, I'm sure you already put a lot of pressure on yourself to perform, but certainly do you feel pressure to maybe even perform at a high level to sort of pave the way for more diverse candidates to get that strong consideration for those front office roles in the future? Yeah, good question. I believe that it's about, I focus on the process in everything we do. So not just the immediate results, I focus on the process. So I believe success is doing things the right way, continuing to learn, continuing to adapt. And if you do that and if you're consistent, then you're gonna be successful long-term. So I look at more like where I have to operate the right way. I have to do things the right way and make sure I'm going through the right process. And so regardless of right away, if you have immediate success or I believe success is gonna come if you continue to operate and do things the right way. So that's where more of my focus is to be disciplined and not to change my core beliefs and my core philosophies and to handle things the right way. And then I believe that's where success will come. And you also mentioned the culture of competition. What did you maybe see with the Falcons organization that showed you that those building blocks for a culture of competition to create that culture are already here for the franchise? Well, again, I think it, I know I've said it, but I believe it starts with the owner. And it's not just the owner, but everybody I've been involved with throughout this process, I can tell this is a really good building. Just everybody in the building. There's some really good people here. And look, the tough part is there are changes when you have changes in leadership, there are changes, but I know there's some really good people in this building. Now there's a standard here as well. There's a standard to succeed and operate and do things the right way. But I know we're gonna have the support. I know we're gonna have the resources. And again, it's my job. Like I want players to feel like when they come in this building, everybody in the building is gonna do everything they can to help them develop as man and as players. They need to feel like that. When a coach comes in this building, they need to feel like everybody in the building is gonna do everything they can to help them be the best coach. Every one of our scouts need to feel like Man Terry is gonna give me every resource and do everything he can to make sure I can be a good scout. Everyone needs to feel like that throughout the building. But again, starting with ownership, throughout the organization, I just believe this is a really good place in this city, in Atlanta. It's a place that they're starving for and they're ready for. Is that client to BSB? Welcome, Terry, to Atlanta. I'm just curious on your philosophy when it comes to evaluating talent, the blend of analytics and just old school eye ball tests and seeing guys in person. Yeah, so it's a layer of information. And I believe that's how it needs to be utilized as a layer of information. I believe that you also need to be a culture of innovation and always looking. And that's not just in the scouting department. That's in the coaching department. That's in the, with the training staff. That's in the training room. That's with the, that's in every area. You have to, and it's a, I really believe that it's a mindset. It's a mindset and if you have a mindset for growth and to listen, as opposed to a stubborn mindset where you don't want to change. You don't want to adapt. We need to make sure we have the right mindsets and we're detailed and we do enough research. So we're not asking Arthur and Rich for every toy that comes out. We need to make sure we do enough extensive research. So whenever we go and say, hey, this is really going to help us, this is going to help us in this particular area, whatever department it's in, that we feel like it really will. But it's a mindset for continued growth and it's more about that. And you're never going to make decisions solely off of analytics, but it is a layer of information. And when you told Kaden and the girls that you finally got a GM job, but you're going to the Falcons, they say, they really, I've been told you my entire life. Check this out, watch this. Come see. This one, get her. So this is, how about this? They got a big box of stuff. Come here, bud. This one fell asleep. What's up, bud? Look at that. No problem wearing the G-tron black. You want to come over? So look, it was, and it was a really emotional, it was a really emotional day on Sunday. And all the kids, they understood, they knew that dad might have an opportunity in Atlanta. But after that game, it was really emotional. So there are a little bit of waterworks and everybody was a little emotional, but they were so excited about this opportunity. And they really felt it. And they were excited about moving forward. And they're the type of, like they bled black and gold since they were born. They were all born when I started with the Saints, I wasn't even married yet. And now I'm leaving 40 years old with four kids. So they were all born into it and they bleed black and gold, but now they bleed black and red and they're ready to come and support dad and be a part of the city. Kate, who's your favorite player? Good answer. Alex Glaze, 11 alive. Hey, Terry. Just wanted to get your thoughts just when you look at the Falcons, what do you see? Do you see a four and 12 team that needs a rebuild? Do you see a team with talent that just under, what do you see when you look at the 2020 Falcons? Yeah, look, again, we understand the challenge because there are some talented players on the roster, but we know where we are with the salary cap and understand, hey, we're gonna have to make some difficult decisions, like a lot of teams in NFL. We understand that, but it's not the right time, obviously, or ever the right time to make predictions. I think we just have to keep our head down, focus on the process, make sure we get the right people in the building, make sure we're detailed in terms of the process and we're focusing on the right areas. And look, we wanna add, again, smart, tough competitive players, get the right people on the bus, and we wanna be a competitive football team. We always wanna be competitive. We're never gonna sit here and say that we're not gonna be competitive, but that's what we wanna do. But we also wanna understand that we're gonna do it the right way. We wanna have sustained success. So there's talent on this team. There's some areas that we need to add, but not a time for predictions, but we wanna be a competitive football team. And not necessarily a prediction, maybe, but when you look at the team, what stands out to you as the biggest need right now? What do they do? That's not something I'm ever gonna do, Alex, I promise, because one thing I would do sometimes or all the time, I watch every press conference. Anytime a personnel guy or general manager, I watch every press conference because I wanna know what they think about their team. And I wanna know, and we develop a must-needs and wants list for every team. Because sometimes you can assess a team from where you stand and you can say, I think they need this, but when there's a general manager or a personnel director or a coach talking about exactly what they need on a press conference, that's not something I'm ever gonna do. So I respect the question, but I'm not gonna talk about details. All right, Charles Odom from the Associated Press. Hey, Jerry, welcome to Atlanta. Thank you. I heard the talk about the box of goodies for your kids, but what about for you? Did you have to go buy that red tie? I did, and I had a red tie somewhere in my house, I promise, this is a true story. So, all right, so I had a red tie somewhere in my house and I could not find it anywhere. And I'm looking everywhere because why would I have a red tie, right? So, and I asked my wife to go buy a tie because I'm trying to get some other things organized and she came back and I hated the tie she bought, so I didn't want it. And so I went to the store and I went to Dillard's and I got a red tie and I'm tying it in the store right before I got here where I was in due to the press conference. And the funny thing about it, 18 years ago, when I had my first interview with the Saints, so I was at Tulane University, I was a fifth year senior and basically one of the people in our football department said, hey, they're hiring interns with the Saints, let's do your resume and let's get over there and interview and I didn't even have a tie. So I went to Dillard's, the same Dillard's, on Lakeside and I bought a tie and I wasn't even good at tying it. So I'm tying my tie and the lady came, one of the workers there came and helped me get the tie just right. And it was 18 years ago, so I got chills when I was in Dillard's today, tying my tie and it just, I'm in the mirror and it just hit me that 18 years ago I was in the same spot. A procedural type thing. Do you believe in you as a GM making yourself available to media during the season? Look, that's something that I have to talk to Arthur Smith about. I have to talk about Rich about and get everybody's thoughts. My belief at this point is that the head coach should be the, he should give the message during the season. He should be the singular voice during the season. Now in the off season, I believe you'll get the head coach and you'll get the GM, but I believe there should be one voice during the season, the head coach. Now I understand with that Charles, I understand there's radio shows and there's other, but in terms of press conferences weekly or anything like that, I believe it should be the message to come from the head coach and he should be the singular voice during the season, but that's actually not something I've had extensive conversations with Rich or Arthur about. Jeff Schultz from The Athletic. Hi, Terry. I'm gonna do you a solid here and you won't have to issue your first no comment by me asking you directly about Julio Jones or Matt Ryan, but I'm gonna back to my question a little bit. So as you evaluate your roster and you evaluate where you are in the draft and you evaluate what a draft is strong in, how much do you sort of factor in the draft part as you look to rebuild your roster in terms of the opportunity that you have in front of you? Yeah, so look, as you assess your team, you're not just looking at this year, you're looking at years to come as you assess your team and as you get into the draft, to the earlier question, I really believe that in the draft, you're gonna take the best player and you can't be afraid to take, you need to continue at every position. There's not a position that you're gonna say, oh, we're good there, we're not gonna draft there this year. That's just what I believe. If you have conviction and along with the coaches, you're in line and you have a clear vision on what that player is gonna be for you, then don't be afraid to draft that player regardless of who position they're at. So look, I know those two players are really good players and I understand that, but we're never gonna be afraid to take a player at any position and build a strength. And then also most of your background is on the pro personnel side. Yes, sir. If at all, do you feel handicapped in the draft? Are you gonna retain any of the college staff? And also kind of as a follow up, are you gonna, there was talk about maybe trying to bring Kai Harley with you from the Saints? You know, again, I don't think it's fair to talk about anybody specific on the staff. I haven't even got a chance to meet with the personnel staff or many people in the building. So I wouldn't wanna talk about anybody specific, but I do believe that, like you said, look, there have been GMs that have come from a pro background that have been very successful and guys from specifically a college program that have been very successful or specifically the salary cap, there's all different types. I believe it's about hiring the right people, you know, having the self-awareness to know your strengths and know areas you wanna make sure you get help in and hiring the right people and then having the humility to hire people smarter than you and listen to them and empower them. I think that's critical, but I believe we'll be very strong in the draft process, we'll be very strong with what we do with the salary cap and we'll be very strong and pro in all areas of player procurement, we're gonna be strong because I'm gonna make sure we have really strong people in place in all those areas. Thank you. Steve Hummer, AJC. Yeah, hi, Terry. Well, first of all, I'm amazed that you've scouted D-Led. I don't know if that was a great use of time, but it was pretty impressive. I don't know what to you, obviously, Mickey Loomis means a lot to you by you even choked up when as you started thinking about it, have you, I don't know how you can condense what he's meant to you and have you had the conversation with him about, okay, now I'm gonna try to kick your butt at least twice a year. Yeah, look, and again, that's the hard part about it because that's the one difficult to where I believe if I was working for an AFC team, we'd probably have a different relationship. We would have a different relationship, but I understand that. And I think we'll always have a good personal relationship. I just understand I'm not gonna get the same advice and if I get any advice from him, I shouldn't use it. But so look, that was even something to think about when I'm thinking about the Falcon's job because I understand relationships will change. They just have to change with me taking this Falcon's job, but I believe personally, he's always, look, he's meant so much to me. When I talk about humility and listening, Mickey's one of those people that he's always the smartest person in the room, but he doesn't talk much because he's not gonna, where you have other people that are constantly talking because Mickey's always listening, he's always taking things in, he's always observing. When I talk about humility and servant leadership, I learned that from Mickey Loomis. Those are some of the better lessons that I learned from him. So I hope we can, you know, I believe we'll always have a good personal relationship, but I know our professional relationship will just be different. And can I ask you how many boxes of St. Stuff is the Fontenot family gonna be donating now? I've already, like one of my daughters, my daughter's history teacher already said, I want all your dad's St. Stuff. But, and again, that's the hard part because 80% of our wardrobes, you know, my car, my phone, like you realize when you've been somewhere this long, my credit, some of my credit cards, they're all, it's all St. Stuff. Like I said, I turned everything in when I was talking earlier about coming in on Thursday. I said, I need to get there so I can get a computer and a phone because I got to turn in all my St. Stuff tomorrow. So yeah, that's a interesting part of it. Thanks. Thank you. Kelsey Conway, landofalcons.com. Hey, Terry, you threw me and probably everyone on this call in a loop when you called D-Led Darrell, I was like, who's that? But going back to Mickey Loomis, what was the first thing that you either called or texted him and told him when you decided you were gonna take the Falcons job? Well, in the back of his mind, he understood and we had had conversations because he felt like the Falcons were gonna offer me the job. So we had had conversations about it and he kind of understood. And again, Mickey's a good enough person to where he cares about the Saints team but yet I believe he cares more about me and he cares more about me as a person and my growth and my development and my family. So even though, I believe he's excited for me, even though it's a division opponent, even though I'm leaving the Warlands, he was still excited for me, he told me that. He said he's proud of me and he's excited about the opportunity I have. And then just curious from the perspective of the opponent now, when you look at the Falcons over the last five years from your standpoint when you were with the Saints, what stood out to you most about the Falcons roster in terms of their strengths that you guys were like, yeah, we really gotta stop this or they're really good at that? Yeah, well, obviously the receivers stress you out. I mean, when, you know, most teams only have one really number one receiver, but when you go out there and you gotta figure out a plan for those receivers, that stresses you out because you can't double everybody on the field. But again, I don't wanna really get into the roster, Kelsey, but it's not rocket science to say that the Falcons have really good receivers. Mike Triplett, ESPN. Mike. How you doing, Terry? How's it going, man? Congratulations, man. I gotta drop from the call for a minute. So I apologize if either of these is a repeat, but you brought your kids look really cute. How about your extended family? Are they dealing with this? Okay, will they ever wear those clothes? That's a great question. And it's funny because you really realize how close your family is because blood's thicker than water. And we've got a lot of, I'm telling you, Mike, we have a lot of Louisiana Falcons fans right now. We've got a lot of Louisiana Falcons fans right now. But I also want to ask you, obviously not specifically getting into the veteran, all pro players you have in this roster, do you think you have to sort of make a decision between whether you're building around your older core players or you're rebuilding, or is there such thing as in between? I think that's all a part of the process, Mike. It's all a part of going through the details, again, with a mindset of thinking big picture, not just focusing on the moment, but thinking big picture, and it's all a part of it. So to, but I don't feel like you're ever in a position where regardless of what you need to do and the moves you need to make, you're always working your best to get, to be very competitive in the game. So you're always looking to add players with the right makeup and understanding, hey, you can't, they can't all be high paid free agents. So you can't all be top draft picks. But I mean, we got to hit on these mid to late round picks. We got to hit on these undrafted free agents. We got to hit on these lower paid players and making sure we're clear with our visions. We're in line with the coaches and bringing in good players. And we're going to focus on the details and we're going to keep our heads down and work hard to do that. So, yes, to understand, look, sometimes you have to make difficult decisions, but you're always working hard to be as competitive as you can as a football team. Thanks. Good seeing you, Mike. Jay Black from WSB radio. Tan, that was a thorough interview process with Mr. Blank, but I want to know, what was your pitch to him? Why did you think you were the best man for the job here? And when I say this, I'm being honest. The first thing I said on the interview is, I'm not pitching, like it's not, my goal isn't to go get a general manager job. I was just very honest and very transparent in terms of when I talk about my career, when I talk about my core beliefs, when I talk about my philosophies, and I was just very clear and detailed in who I am as a person, in who I am as a professional, and who I am as a worker and what I believe. And that was, that's really what I focused on. So I was clear and transparent because, look, you can get caught up if you tell people what they want to hear on the interview, because you're trying to get the job, then it's not going to be the right situation for you. So I didn't want to do that. So look, sometimes I might have said things that whether it was the Falcons or another team that they might not have wanted to hear, but I wanted to be clear and transparent. So the team that really wanted to give me an opportunity really felt good about me. And they knew exactly what they were getting in me. And I knew exactly what I was getting from that organization. So it wasn't a pitch to sell myself. It was just me being honest and transparent and saying who I was and what I've been a part of and why I would be excited if the opportunity was right. And whenever the world kind of returns to normal, what are you and your family looking forward to do here in Atlanta? That's a good point. Like I said, we're coming here in a few days and they're gonna, I said this to somebody the other day at Flowery Branch, it better be child proof because my crew is there all the time and you hear them before you see them. They're always around. I know Atlanta is a family organization. I know New Orleans is a family organization. And that was probably the hardest part of in New Orleans this year, not being able to have the families in the building as much as they usually are. But look, Atlanta is, that's one of the attractive things I would say about Atlanta for coaches, for players. It's an attractive job not just because of organization but also because of living in Atlanta and there's obviously a lot of good things. So we're excited about getting to Atlanta, learning the community and really being a part of it.