 a two tight set and they'll hand the ball to Herbert, he fumbled it and Atlantis got it. Play football and get the benefits of football. I really want it to be challenged academically and really be a student athlete and get everything from it. And Tulane afforded me the opportunity to do that. The fourth game of the season, we're playing East Carolina and I'm making a tackle, got rolled up on and I broke my leg and I see my senior year going well in my mind. I wanna have a great year, be productive and who knows what happens after that. Playing the bowl game and just have a great experience my senior year and to break my leg at that time, it was hard. Heather Ryan was, she worked in academic services and she grabbed me and said, hey Terry, there could be an opportunity. She said, because you didn't get another year and you're not gonna be playing, there's an internship with the New Orleans Saints. So let's get your resume together and apply for it. Now I got a phone call and I answered, it was Janella Newsom who was the assistant director of community affairs for the Saints. And she said, Mr. Fontenot, we got your resume and we'd like to interview you to be an intern in marketing and community affairs. And I said, okay, well, can you tell me a little bit about the job description? And so I said, Ms. Newsom, I appreciate the call, but I'm gonna respectfully decline, have a good day and I'll hung up and I get my keys and I'm about to go to work. And so I walk out the door and I open the door and the phone rings. Janella said, Terry, do you realize what people do to get their foot in the door in the National Football League? This is a big deal. I really think you should consider interviewing. I did that, I went and interviewed, it worked out, I got the job and I had a plan for myself. I knew what my plan was and what I wanted to do, but obviously God had other plans. And so for that to happen, for me to break my leg and for things to work out, for me to get that opportunity with the Saints, it was meant to be. I bought a disposable camera and I said, take a picture of him for my first day of work. Man, and I look back at that picture sometimes and look at that kid and I'm like, he has no clue. He was working in marketing and they were doing these caravans where I think their head coach and GM and a few players, they drive around to these little cities and do these appearances at the mall and he was setting up the merchandise table. And I mean, he knew that's really not what he wanted to do, but he struck up a relationship with their GM, Mickey Loomis, and their relationship just formed over those caravans. After I was done with my responsibilities in marketing and community affairs, then I would just go ask question, but they just took the time to this eager, hungry marketing intern to just spend some time with me and just help me out a little bit and that meant a lot. Up and she might not see me that night because I might stay at work all night because I want to make sure I do the very best that I can. So my head was always down and you don't think about a lot of celebrating or a lot of taking times to really appreciate it because you're just worried about doing the very best you can with that next opportunity. If your names mentioned as a possible general manager, that means a lot because there's only 32. I never felt that it was something specifically about me. It was about the organization I was a part of and what I meant to the organization. Once I really did a lot of digging into the organization and into Atlanta, this was a job I wanted. And new today, the Atlanta Falcons announce its new general manager. Here he is right here. 40-year-old Terry Fontenot comes to Atlanta after spending 16 seasons with the Vision Rival New Orleans. I remember my first conversation with Arthur. Going through that draft process, a lot of people worked really hard to get to those moments and it's a very inclusive process but being able to pull those cards off and make those phone calls and just hear that raw emotion of those players, it was a priceless experience and one that I'll never forget. Hello? Outfits. This is Terry in Atlanta. How you doing, man? I'm doing good. How you doing? Want to be a falcon? Yes, sir. All right, man. We're going to turn the party right here. Appreciate the opportunity. I'm ready. With the fourth pick in the 2021 NFL draft, the Atlanta Falcons select Kyle Pitts, tight end Florida. I believe we're setting a foundation and so this year is always going to be meaningful and I have faith in this opportunity and what we're going to do here and we're going to outwork everyone and so I'm excited. And when I think back to this year, I think about the challenges and what they're going to mean for us moving forward. DJ Terrell with the pin. Touchdown Atlanta. He's going to take the shot for pins. Makes the catch. He smugs Garland Davidson as a pin. And a huge lick by Eric Harris. Patterson who makes the catch. Hi, everybody with Dave Archer, Wes Durham. We welcome you to the Atlanta Falcons pre-draft show presented for you by Truis. Good to see you, my man. How are you? Yeah, here we go again, right? Christmas time, baby. It's Christmas time in April. Yeah, this is always a fascinating night for 32 teams. It's a fascinating night for fans. But tonight for Atlanta, this feels a little different than maybe in past years, Arch. Yeah, for me, it feels like maybe the beginning. I mean, I know last year was the beginning of the Terry Fontenot Arthur Smith kind of era, if you will. But I think they were a little hamstrung. I think tonight, and I say that because you had some personnel here that weren't and hamstrings probably the wrong word to use. You had some existing people here that aren't here now. Let's put it that way. And so now there's kind of a new beginning, especially when you change the quarterback and you've done that. You've gotten some good guys coming in. We'll talk about some of the guys that have come in. That's gonna be a lot of fun to talk about those guys. But it just kind of feels like the new beginning is this year. It's been delayed a year. I think the pandemic has had something to do with that as well. The interesting too, Atlanta's in the top 10 for the second straight year. They pick at eight in the first round and speculation is all over the board. But it's a team with a lot of needs and it's been discussed. It's been beaten around from a financial standpoint. Okay, let's look at it like this. Last year, Kyle Pitts was at four. The last time at eight, it was Vic Beasley. They went defensive end. Last time they went defensive end was Tak McKinley in 2007. Last time they went quarterback, Matt Ryan in 08. Now add to that defensive end quarterback. You got wide receiving involved. You got offensive line involved. You got defensive end involved and you got cornerback involved. So the window tonight is five positions in arching all honesty. I've seen all five. I could see all five going. Absolutely. And I think that that makes this even more intriguing for the fan is I'm sure there's fans that are coming down in certain spots. Hey, I want this guy. I want that guy. I want this position group. I want that position group. But in all rationale, if you sit back as a fan and you look at it, you say, I get that. I understand that pick. And so in a sense, you can't really go wrong. Okay, what have we learned about what tonight means since the end of last year? Because I think that helps narrow the window a little bit perhaps. Well, it does, but I think that, excuse me. I think what it does is it magnifies the difficulty in finding guys to fill in the right slot. You've got a guy here at quarterback for 14 years that played at the highest possible level. Now, all of a sudden, that guy's not here anymore. And you've got a guy coming in, quite frankly, I think has a chip on his shoulder and has a lot to prove. I think that's a bonus. I think that's a plus for this football team. So when you look at the expanse of what the Atlantic could potentially take here, it boggles the mind. But I know Terry Fontenot, his staff, Arthur Smith, his staff, have really ground this thing down and lined the board up where they've got a very definitive idea how they're gonna attack. And Atlanta's got inventory too. And I'm not sure they had a lot of inventory last year. You talked about kind of growing a year ago in the first year of the Smith Fontenot administration. It feels like a little more draft capital this year, a little bit more wiggle room, can negotiate a little bit, could trade down. I'm not saying they'll trade down at eight, but they could trade down, could trade up in other areas as the draft evolves too. The flexibility is certainly there. The nine picks give you that. You've got five picks in the top, what, 80, 84 picks. So you do have some of the flexibility to slide if you find a guy you like. This is a very deep draft in a number of different positions. So I'm not sure you have to necessarily move. If you fall in love with a guy, they certainly have the ability to do that. There's some teams that don't. Carolina, just up the road, they've got no draft capital. They've got a first rounder and then they think they pick again when we get two presidents from now. I mean, it's a long time off for them. It's kind of like third, fourth round. So Atlanta has some ability to slide. We got a lot of ground to cover for you in this pre-draft show here tonight. We're going to cover not only what the process is, you'll hear from General Manager Terry Fontenot about that process. You're gonna hear from the final whistle crew. They'll pick some players. So we'll Dave and I at the end of the night, which are also gonna hear from them about kind of how this has evolved as a product line. Arthur Smith and Terry Fontenot, both joined Scott Bear of AtlantaFalcons.com. You'll get their comments as we work our way toward the first round tonight about eight o'clock Eastern time. So a lot of things to come here as, and Dave mentions five picks of the, what, first 84. That's a lot. That can change the dynamic of this football team pretty quick. And that's why other people have also talked about it being an impactful night for the Atlanta Falcons. So when we continue, we're gonna dive into the process. Dave and I are gonna look at the state of the Falcons today. What do they look like before they make the pick tonight at eight? We'll do that more when the Atlanta Falcons pre-draft show. Presented by Truis continues in just one moment. The value of All-Star Games in general is, it's the first time that us at Scouts get to put our hands on the guys as far as interviews. You know, we get to sit them down at night. We get to sit them down in the morning, trying to confirm or deny all the reports that we get from a character perspective during the school calls in the fall. But also to see them in a highly competitive environment against good on good, you know, top competition around the country. You have the fall season where you've been in the school. You watch these guys at their own campus. You can watch them in games. Now you get to see them in a different environment. You have a lot of the best players out there and the one-on-ones and the teamwork and getting to see those guys, the way they compete, the way they do things and see their progression and how they take the coaching and from day one to day three and then into the game and how they learned and getting to spend the time with them and interview them. So it's a really valuable exposure. Everyone's involved and everyone has a voice and everyone, we don't want groupthink. We don't want everyone to agree. We want everybody to have their opinions and the opinions are based off of real research, a lot of film, a lot of gathering information, spending time with the players. So it's based off of a lot of really good levels of information and then we're not gonna have groupthink. We're gonna discuss it and make sure we find players we love. We want all of our scouts to have conviction on every player so that's the importance of interviewing them and finding out, yeah, the tape is the tape but we gotta know how the kids are wired as well. It's a grind but it's the fun part of this because we're gonna make our team better and we're gonna bring in competition at every position and again, these college scouts have worked really hard now getting the coaches involved and bringing in some players that we love. For us, the coaches, we're kind of late to the party. So we talk about collaborative. I mean, the scouts have put some of these people put years of work and they're getting to know the player. Obviously, we come in after the season and I try not to make snap judgments. It's just an ongoing process. It's fun to get to be a part of it and I'm excited to be here at Indy. We're actually in person. It's different because you're playing football and mobile and you're not here and we're getting times and those things are important. It's comparative data but it's really what we're locked in on is movement skills of the players and when they go through the workouts and then the more important part is the interview process. We get 45 of them in a formal setting. The most important thing we do is assess makeup. So in order to do that, we get information from the schools and we've gathered a lot of information the area scouts on the players but now we actually get to meet them and spend more time with them. This is a really important exposure because you get to get a good feel for these players and see how they're wired, if they love the game, who's football smart and you just really get to assess those players apples to apples. And then as we continue from the combine where it's the pro days and bringing players into your facility, all those exposures are really important. I've never subscribed to a one size fits all. So 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 within the day, this is a relationship business between coach and player and I understand how they learn best so this is just a small part of it as you're building this, as you're building kind of the entire bio. So when we get down in late April, we make the best of it. Every exposure you can get with players is important. The more time we can spend with them, every time we can get our hands on them and talk to them and really get a feel for who they are, it's all really critical. And look, there's some players that aren't here that didn't make this combine list or you're gonna get drafted and they're gonna be good football players. So we're gonna, as soon as we leave here, we're gonna hit the ground hard and pound the pavement and we'll be in the schools and finding good players. So it's all important. Back with Dave Archer, West Durham and this segment brought to you by American Family Insurance and I enjoyed hearing Terry Fontenot and Kyle Smith and I think Robinson talk about the process of not just the senior bull but also the combine. You mentioned this a moment ago. It's a more normal off season two for both Terry Fontenot and Arthur Smith. Yeah, I think that, you know, trying to settle into a new chair as Terry did at the beginning of February, Arthur in that same period as well and then trying to get up to speed with where's your office and all the kind of stupid stuff that you have to deal with to a certain extent. You have to, you know, where do I go? Where do I park? All that stuff's out of the way and now you can settle in. You've got your staff built the way you want it because it was still that process. Remember they're building their staff trying to evaluate the roster. There was a lot going on. Dave, I'm gonna ask you from the standpoint there were lots of transactions. Lots of transitions with this football team in the off season. Some directly impacted because of the salary cap. We understand that. Matt Ryan, 14 years, the starting quarterback here in Atlanta traded to Indianapolis in exchange for a third. Of the ones that you've seen here, where do you think the team's been impacted most by the transactions to date? Well, you can't go any further than the quarterback position. Marcus Mariota is a guy that I think is the perfect guy in this situation. You just left a guy that's a franchise great. You get a guy coming in to me. Marcus Mariota has a chip on his shoulder. I think you come in, you were a guy at Tennessee. If things didn't work out for whatever reason, you've backed up, you've gotten healthy with the Raiders. You come in, he's only 28 years old. He turns 29 in the middle of the sea. This guy's a young dude. He hadn't even probably reached his prime yet. So that one immediately sticks out. Casey Hayward coming in at corner, I think is another one, a veteran guy that understands how to win, understands how to be a pro. I think that's a big deal. Doesn't mean you don't draft a corner, but you've got a guy that you like in that situation. I think Lorenzo Carter, and you're gonna hear this, you're gonna hear me say this about all these guys. I think they're all chip on the shoulder guy. I think Lorenzo Carter comes back home, former dog, didn't really work out in New York for whatever reason, maybe got some criticisms up there. He's back with family down here. I think he's ready to just unload on somebody coming off the edge. I think there's a number of guys that fit that same category. I think one of the other interesting parts about this football team we have to recognize going into tonight is that there were some guys who were on the field a year ago to kind of help turn the corner that returned most notably Cordero Patterson. I thought the Cordero Patterson piece was pretty important, especially once Ryan's departure was imminent, because I think Patterson's a guy that can rally younger players, right? I don't think there's any question about that. Cordero's a very likable guy. He's a very positive dude. I think every time you and I had a chance to talk to him post-game, there was always, it didn't matter what happened in the game, he came out with a positive attitude of what they were going to do next. And I think that carries over to the practice field, carries over to the weight room, meeting rooms, whatever. So that leadership that he brings back just to kind of the joy to play, I think Cordero Patterson brings that. Plus, I think he learned something about himself. He got a huge workload last year. And I think it affected him a little bit late in the year. I think he'll have a little better understanding of how to manage himself a little bit as well. Yeah, I think Patterson, Eric Harris falls into that category when healthy, I thought was a contributor, certainly not only statistically, but a guy who also kind of helped the team turn the corner with Arthur Smith and Terry Fontana. I agree, Eric Harris is a guy that, again, veteran guys that understand how to practice, understand how important it is to come in the building with the right attitude. You got to come in here every day on a Wednesday, Thursday, ready to get better. You got to leave the building a better player than when you got here. Eric Harris is one of those kind of guys that makes that happen. All right, so we've kind of moved to where the state of the team is now. They've added Damian Williams, who was a running back from Kansas City. But again, I think you've been on a very important point heading into tonight. This is a football team that went because of where they were with the cap now, went out and got some guys, shorter deals who've maybe got something to prove to get to the next deal, right? I love it, I love it. I think you could have gotten guys that are just excited to get one more deal in the NFL and then they're done. I don't think you got any of those kind of guys. I think you've got guys that still think and are young enough to know, I've still got a lot to contribute. I still have a chance to be a guy in this league. I can be a pro bowler in this league. You can't tell me that Marcus Mariota is not coming in here thinking, I can be the starting quarterback in a playoff game, maybe the pro bowl, whatever. He's coming in to rekindle his career and Atlanta's gonna benefit from it. Well, and remember, you still got young guys left from last year's draft. You saw Ogendagie play a ton. You saw Kyle Pitts make contributions. I mean, there are young guys all over the football field. Still by nature and statistically one of the younger football teams in the league. Yeah, I think that there was a lot of guys that got play time by design. Arthur Smith had talked about that during training camp. Remember in training camp, none of those starters were really in. He had those young guys playing. Paid dividends later on in the season because some of them had to play and it wasn't that they couldn't, they were ready to roll. And he had put guys on the field. I thought that addressing some of the guys they had brought along, you know, some of the big Anthony Rush, a guy that he added and he was on the practice squad and all of a sudden you bumped him into the regular roster, he made a difference. Got him reassigned. That's another guy that's back on the roster as well. So I think there's a lot of things that were accomplished last year that's gonna benefit you this year. Well, I'll use Richie Grant, neighbor Williams as guys, right? Williams certainly in punt return, but often times in secondary ladder part of the season. I thought the kind of the evolution of Richie Grant during the year was typical of what you expect out of a draft pick. And oh, by the way, you've got an emerging star at one of your corner positions. Yeah. Yeah, AJ Terrell has a chance to be one of the great players in this league and he's only going into year three. That bodes well for you too. Do you couple him with somebody else? I guess we'll get to that. Do you couple him with somebody else? I mean, I'm excited about it. I'm excited what AJ Terrell has already turned into in just his third season. All right, when we continue on the Atlanta Falcons pre-draft show, you're gonna hear from the Falcons' new quarterback Marcus Mariota. All that more coming up. I've been a guy that's a starter in this league. I've been a guy that's wanna play off game. I've been a guy that's also been benched. I've been a guy that's also been just a practice player. So I really feel like my value as a leader comes in relationships. I'm gonna be able to relate to a lot of different people because I've experienced a lot of different things in this league. The value that I've had over my time over my short career is gonna allow me to be a guy that people can come to and hopefully I can elevate them and make them the best players they can be. I wanna continue to prove that not only am I a starter, but I can play at a high level. Given the opportunity to be a leader, to be a guy that guys can look to, at the end of the day, I think to play the quarterback position is important to elevate the play of your teammates. And for me, being in a couple of different spots, I can relate to a lot of different people and that value, I think, can help these guys become the best and really that's my ultimate goal. During my time in Tennessee, you know, we went through a lot of different things. You know, went through coaching changes. I went through, you know, a broken ankle. I went through some of these things that people would call adversity. And, you know, I was tired. I was just kind of tired of all the turnover. I was tired of being beat up, wasn't playing well. And, you know, at the end of the day, you know, this is a performance-based business and when you're not playing well, things happen. And I understood that. So, you know, I was both mentally and physically beat up, you know, and I think this is a great opportunity for me to kind of showcase what I've learned over the course of the last couple of years. You know, being around guys like Ryan Tannehill and Derek Carr, guys that have played at a high level. So, you know, with art, I think we've developed a relationship where we can communicate. We can get things off our chest. We can put forth what we think is best for the offense. And then secondly, he's always gonna be honest with me. And if there's things that I need to improve on, he's gonna work on it with me. That's why I think and believe in this situation and I'm excited for this opportunity. What Matt did here, what he's accomplished here is truly greatness. And for me, I just gotta kind of carve my own path. You know, I appreciate what he's done. Appreciate what he's been for this organization. And the best thing that I can do is try to put my best foot forward and be the best player that I can be. And, you know, whatever comes with that, whatever successes, whatever failures, just take everything on the chin and understand that this is my process. This is my journey. And just appreciate what he's done and what he's been for this organization. For me, as my career continues to go forward, you know, I really believe that the things that I've gone through have prepared me for this moment. I'm just excited to just get back out on the field and show what I'm capable of. You know, getting in last season, you know, at points in times, to be able to run the football, you know, I feel great, my legs are under me. I feel like I can be explosive, I can do things out of the pocket. So to be able to have that, to be creative, to be dynamic, that's kind of where I feel like offenses are going and, you know, I'm more than capable of doing that. I just can expect a quarterback that's grown up a lot. That's gone through the ups and downs, that's gone and played at a high level that's kind of also been down at the lowest point, but has realized that those experiences ultimately will make me a better player. You're gonna see the mobility, you're gonna see the throwing, you're gonna see all that kind of stuff, but you're gonna realize that, you know, what I was three, four years ago isn't necessarily who I am now and I'm really excited to show fans as well as even myself what I'm capable of. Terry, thank you so much for joining us and it's crazy to think that we've been talking about the NFL Draft for so long, but now it's finally here, right? What's this weekend like now that you're actually gonna go make those picks? It's really exciting and it really, you step back and you're really thankful for all the work that's went into it and so many people that have a part in this process and you get really excited because as we go in and having nine draft picks at this point, we could have a couple more, we could have a few less, but at the end of the day, having all that draft capital and there's a lot of really good players and we're gonna find the right players that fit us and pull them off the board and it's really exciting. How is this year different? The second go-around with a lot of these people? Yeah, we've lived together, we know each other a lot more, right? We've been through a season together, we've been through ups and downs and with us, the relationship part of it, the relationships with the coaches, the scouts, the entire staff, that's all important because this is an inclusive process, it's not two people making every decision, we're taking in everything and everyone's involved. So in building those relationships and being cohesive as a staff, that's all important. You have a chance to bring in a lot of top talents in this NFL draft, you mentioned it earlier, you have five picks in the top 82, that's a pretty high volume. What kind of possibilities does that afford you? Having that volume of day one and day two picks? Yeah, there's so many possibilities because we could come away from day one and day two with three players and yet if we do that, that means that we package some things and trade it up and got some players that we just absolutely fell in love with. We're gonna be excited about those three or we can move back and come away with six players. And so you have a lot of different opportunities and there are a lot of good players in this draft and so it's exciting because you really have flexibility when you have that amount of draft capital. How do you kind of build the groundwork for maybe making a deal if that's something that you happen to do? Right, that's what we've been doing over the last few days, over the last week and we'll be doing right up into Thursday, having all those conversations with other GMs, other personnel, people, other coaches, just figuring out what you anticipate happening and what they would like to do. And so you have those preliminary conversations. So then when you're on the clock, you've already laid the groundwork for those trades. So things happen on the clock but we've already done a lot of work leading up into it. What are your overall thoughts on this quarterback draft class and maybe adding one to the Falcons? Yeah, we'll add one to the room and whether it could be in this draft in any of the rounds, it could be after the draft. We're not gonna close any doors. We'll turn over every stone in terms of adding quarterbacks and we're excited about Marcus and we'll continue to work with Felipe and go through that process but we do need to add to that room. You're not always gonna draft as high as number eight. You're not always gonna have five days, one and two selections. How important is it to really strike here with all of these opportunities and do you feel like you can get a lot better in a very short period of time? Yeah, that's a great question. It is a very important draft because we don't wanna be drafting in the top 10 very often and again, having that many picks in the first couple of days, that's unique as well. And so it is very important and I think the most important thing is as we're establishing the right culture, bringing in players that fit our ethos, that fit the makeup that we're establishing, you wanna make sure you hit on those areas and bring in the right kind of human beings, bringing players that are wired the right way and have the right intangibles. So I think it's very important, I know it's very important because we wanna make sure we bring the right people in the building. Terry, thank you so much for the time and best of luck in the 2022 NFL draft. Coming right up. Awesome man, appreciate you. Terry Fontenot's interview with Scott Baer presented to you by Publix and Dave, when we talk about this first year for Terry Fontenot as the general manager and he came obviously with extensive experience in New Orleans, I think he realized the value of the cards he'd been dealt. How do you capsule the first year? Well, I think that when you look at the team, the way the team played it, that's really what you're gonna look at. You're gonna look at how the team responded to what they put on the field. Seven wins in your 17 games, you were in a probably two or three others that may have could have flipped the switch and all of a sudden you look up in your nine and eight. Something like that could have happened but I thought you were a formidable team most every time you're out there. You had a chance to win your latent games and so that means you put competitive guys on the field and so he's trying to find competitive guys that fit the bill here in Atlanta. And let's face it, when you come to play in Atlanta, you've got a team that represents you on the field which also got a team that represents you in the public and there was a number of these guys that were really good assets that went out and did stuff during their downtime which is part of the DNF at Falcon. We can look at certain players positions as we head into tonight, things like that. If you're gonna parlay where this franchise is going, everybody asked that how many starters do you need out of tonight to push you into 22? Do you have a number you're thinking about tonight? Well, I think that, yeah, I'm probably looking at the first three picks is coming in and being immediately impactful because you're talking about two second round picks, a first round pick. Now the caveat to that is if you draft a quarterback. So a quarterback's still on the board for Atlanta. They could get a quarterback at eight. They could get a quarterback at 42. They could get a quarterback for that second pick or the second round. It could happen. He's not gonna start this year unless something happens to the Marriota, okay? So in that case, you wouldn't get that but I would anticipate as many as three guys starting, I'm sorry, three guys starting and coming in and being maybe impactful because when you talk about starters, you gotta be careful because you gotta remember there's about 14 starters because the package is on defense and it's the same way on offense. So all of a sudden you look at it 28 to 30 guys that you'd categorize as starters. Impact guys, three certainly. And I think you could be as many as five or six out of this draft. Yeah, that's the part about this that I think is kind of interesting. And he's very intentional about the way he wants to build this team. I think and the good thing for Falcon fans is terms of where we're going in the future is the relatability he and Arthur Smith have about the construction of that team. Yeah, I think he's real cognizant about not reaching. You hear him talk about it all the time. I'm not gonna reach for a player. We have needs, we understand that. This is a needy roster, he gets that. But he also understands that I can't reach for a guy that I don't have rated as high as this guy and we've got some pretty good depth there but it behooves me to take this guy, it's a better player. I think they do a really good job of making sure and we talk about this all the time in our broadcast, they stack the board. You stack the board up and down. One to 365 or whatever it is and then you stack them across based on positions and how does that match up? I think Terry does a really good job and he continues to live by that creed is if we've got a couple guys that are rated similar, I'll go ahead and get the need guy. But if we've got a guy, a need guy and then a guy that's rated much higher, I'm gonna take that best player. Yeah, and I think that's kind of the bigger board you've gotta be cognizant of too. You gotta be looking at that. Tonight with Atlanta, not just today but certainly those other four picks we're talking about in the top 80 some is Atlanta has got to be intentional but they also have to be flexible. They've got inventory to make moves to help maybe the football team get better by trading back. Well, you wanna win now, but you don't wanna, you're not gonna mortgage right now to not have your future set up too. And that's really the balancing act here that Terry and Arthur are trying to get done. All right, more to come here. You're gonna hear from a little bit about, from Arthur Smith as he projects into 22 as well. That's still to come. But let's join Scott Bear, Chris Remontory, McElaney with some thoughts. Thanks, Wes. And I'm here with the Falcons Final Whistle crew. If you guys haven't already, please rate, review, subscribe, all that fun stuff to the Falcons Final Whistle pod which is presented by Microsoft Windows 11. And a big thank you to them, the official operating system of the NFL and the Atlanta Falcons. The all new Windows 11 is here to bring you closer to what you love like, you know. Like us. Like us at the Falcons Final Whistle podcast. And what we've talked about on the podcast that I really wanna talk about right here is where the Falcons team needs are heading into the NFL Draft. What needs to be addressed during this stretch, right? Now it's not a checklist of gotta get this, this, this in this exact order. That's not how the draft works. But Tori, since you wrote the story on ranking the Falcons draft needs, break it down for us. Well, it was interesting because I could have written it like 1A, 1B and did 1A pass rush, 1B pass rush because Edd rusher is such a significant need. We know this, we've talked about this. This is not a secret to anyone anywhere. The Falcons have to improve at that position group at Edd rusher. They just have to. There were 18 sacks last year. There were individuals with more sacks than the Falcons. That's, you have to change that. So number one and 1A, 1B, Edd rusher. I also think wide receiver, significant area of need. We know this, Russell Gage has gone to Tampa Bay, Calvin Ridley suspended for the 2022 season. Right. So you have a ton of needs at wide receiver. You've got to get a true wide receiver. And I don't think, I know people are like, oh, well you brought back Corderole Patterson. You brought back Kyle Pitts. That's a running back and a tight end. You need true receivers. Those are my top two needs if I'm ranking without question. Anything after that? Offensive tackle. Offensive tackle stands out. Yeah, the long-term health of the offensive line, particularly at offensive tackle, because you do know that Caleb McGarry's contract is coming to an end, his rookie deal. So thinking about the long-term health of the offensive line. And there are some good offensive tackles in the first that are going to go in the first 10 picks. Right. So the Falcons have five picks in the top 82. But Chris, let's just look at that number eight spot, especially, right? Kind of, do you have to go edge rusher or wide receiver? Kind of give me the lay of the land in terms of where the Falcons can address those needs early on, but still get great value. Yeah, I think, like Tori just mentioned it, as we've talked on multiple podcast episodes before, I think it's more about the who at eight and the what. So if one of the group of four, the big four, fab four, edge rushers are there, I think you get whoever that fourth edge rushers is that's there. I also think if Evan Neal, or I don't want to mispronounce, Icky from NC State, even Charles Cross, if one of those guys are there, that's a player. Those are players I think Falcons fans should be happy with. And I think the group that person outside would be happy with. As far as wide receiver goes, I think, like we've talked about before, if you're in love with a player at eight, if you're in love with the receiver at eight, go ahead and get them, but at eight you'll likely have the first swing at it. You'll probably get the top guy if you want him there. But also I think at eight, if there's a top receiver or the fourth edge rusher, I would probably take the fourth edge rusher. Yeah, I would agree with that because something we talked about on the podcast before is how we think edge, the difference between the top four edge rushers and the difference between the top four wide receivers in this draft, there is the wide receiver depth. I feel like you're gonna have more of an opportunity in the second round to get really, really good wide receivers. And I don't think I could say the same thing about edge rusher. So when we're talking about the top four edge rushers, we're talking about Aidan Hutchinson, Trayvon Walker, Kavon Tibido, and Jermaine Johnson, right? And there could be a run on those guys early on so you think, but if they could come away with one of those four, I think their pass rush gets instantly better. That's a major need, right? As we kind of start winding down here, right? The quarterback you didn't mention. I did. And there is no long-term plan here right now. It's Marcus Mariota here. It's a shorter-term contract. They are still executing a succession plan. Why was that not higher on your needs list? I just am not 100% sold on this quarterback class. And I hope they- Again, it's more about the who than the what, right? Yes, exactly. If you're really thinking about best player available, I don't know if I can say with full confidence that any of these top quarterbacks are better than a sauce gardener if he's there at number eight. There's no way that I'm taking one of the quarterbacks over sauce, period. And so I think when I think about this draft, it really does matter how those first seven picks go, who's available at eight. And in terms of quarterbacks, I just feel like would you be reaching if you are taking a quarterback at number eight? I'm not saying that the Falcons shouldn't take a quarterback at all. However, I wouldn't take one at eight. Yeah, well, I think two of the quarterbacks is kind of always a reach in a way, right? Because as we've seen, if you have the guy at quarterback, oftentimes he'll get you there or him and the parts will get you there but not reverse the parts without him won't get you there. So investing in that franchise guy like last year's draft, it was, maybe you say Trevor Lawrence was the best player of the draft, but after Trevor Lawrence, it was Kyle Pitts. And some people would say Kyle Pitts was the best player of the draft, but he went for it. So quarterbacks often get pushed up because of their value. So I think, as we said, I agree with you though, in terms of best player available, just saying that if there is a quarterback taken, their grade often gets pushed up because of the positional value. Yeah, and there you have it. I think Ed rusher and wide receiver, absolutely vital. Guys, thank you so much for the time. Wes and Dave, back to you. Scott, thanks very much. Still to come. Scott will sit down an exclusive interview with the Falcons head coach, Arthur Smith. When the Atlanta Falcons pre-draft show presented by Truis continues in a moment. In the 2021 NFL Draft, the Atlanta Falcons select, Kyle Pitts. He is the highest drafted tight end in history. He called him a gold jack of talent. Pitts, who makes the catch and a flag is thrown. To what a catch by Pitts. Holy smokes. The first career-scoring catch for Kyle Pitts. Now the first time lose the 45-40. Tim's own touchdown. That's the rookie Kyle Pitts. The Atlanta Falcons are continuing to change the game on season ticket benefits. Join the Falcons family in 2022 for more games, more access, and more value than ever before. Included tickets to our biggest season yet at Mercedes-Benz Stadium with nine regular season home games plus ultimate ticket flexibility with the ability to exchange tickets for games you can attend, free gear for all members, and free away game tickets. Select your seat today. Rise up. After all the scouting has gone into this and all the player evaluation, the NFL Draft is now upon us. Is this one of your favorite times of the off season and what do you enjoy about this process leading up to making the picks? Well, I love the process. We've got a really good staff here. These guys put a ton of work into it. Been a very collaborative effort leading up to this. And we're excited because there's unknown. There's excitement. It's the closest thing you're going to get until the season starts. A little bit of an adrenaline rush. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. All of the Falcons scouts, they've been evaluating these guys for almost a full year. But the coaches are getting the team ready for games or playing games. Tova fans, at what point the coaches come into the process and when do you kind of feel like you're done catching up and you're kind of up to speed with it? Yeah, I think the thing you got to understand is that coaches coach and scouts scout. But you're going to have your opinions. And I think the more that you understand and collaborate, here's the vision for the player. I think what happens a lot of times is people back themselves in the corner. Well, they don't want somebody and they find reasons, oh, this guy can't play. That's not true. There's a lot of good players that are in the draft. 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. We give our opinion. But at the end of the day, like, here's how we coach this guy. Here's how we would fit. And then you've got to rely on the scouts that done all the background checks to make sure that you're not. There's nothing that you're missing. How much, when you're watching tape or seeing these guys work out or talking to them, does scheme fit and locker room fit? Play into your preferences. Well, it all goes. Obviously, in a perfect world, you'd have 53 guys that are perfect football character, and they fit every measurable. That's not going to be the case. And so I think if you make sure you understand exactly the person, how he learns, everything, what he's going to be like every day, you know, exactly how you need to coach them. And then obviously, for the talent evaluation part, is to make sure that, hey, look, yeah, these are certain, measurable for looking for. When a player gets drafted, that's a huge moment. But after that is when the coaching comes in, and you draft, and then you develop. Well, the development takes a long time, and can it give fans an idea of when that process starts and kind of what it takes to get even a very talented elite talent ready to play NFL football? They'll be in here in two weeks in our rookie minicamp, and that's really when it starts. Their first taste of the NFL, what we're asking them to do, what our team goals are, the culture of this place, try to get them caught up. There's so much to get them caught up for them. And then the NFL does a good job with the rookie development program that these players are in, involved in the entire spring. And they're just building them up. And I think the one thing, one of the mistakes, everybody's just ready to go out there and have them run 100 reps. You're not going to do that. We'll bring them along the right way and make sure they understand, like, this is exactly who we thought we were getting. What's the vision? You know, these guys that we protect, this player will be available, you know, week one. What's his role going to be? And then that all does will settle when we get through camp. Going into this draft, do you think that as you guys continue to strengthen this roster that this draft is really important? I know they're all important, but you're not always going to draft number eight. You're probably going to draft lower than that. And you're probably not going to have as many day one and two picks as you have. So is this a real opportunity to land a number of really significant impact players in a very short span? Yeah, we feel pretty strongly about that. I mean, in a lot of them, there's our current reality, double a short term. Guys that we're going to, whether we like it or not, that may be forced to play just by what we're at with salary cap and obviously things will change in a year. And as you build this, you know, year over year, you always want to replenish in the draft, obviously with the current situation. Yeah, there is a lot of, there will be a lot to be respected from this draft class. That's awesome. Coach, thank you so much for the time. Best of luck in the 2022 NFL draft. Appreciate it, Scott. Scott, thanks very much. And of course, his visit with Arthur Smith is presented by Rockland Holmes. And Dave, here's the thing about the first year Falcon coach from a season ago. I thought winning close games was a step about what his program is going to be when he gets everything on the table. Yeah, I think that winning games, they won some games late in games. And the beauty of it was they didn't just win games on offense. We have been used to winning games late on offense. Storming back, Matt Ryan led back, what, 35, 30, 40 times game for, but you didn't remember winning games on the other side of the ball. They won some games last year, the Foya-Lewick and Interception against Detroit win the football game at the end. I thought that that became who they were that we're gonna fight you to the final moment. That's kind of what he's been trying to get across. I love the guy because I've had a chance to interact with him a number of times. Obviously, during the year with my interviews with him, pre-game, post-game, whatever, he wants to win football games and he's not gonna mix a lot of words. He says, we're gonna line up and we're gonna come after, we're gonna be the toughest team on the field and we're gonna play you for 60 minutes. Yeah, I think the success in the details is something that got maybe overlooked a little bit because I remember those post-game visits you had on radio where a lot of heat talks about the preparation process and that's where the payoff occurred, right, on game day. He wants to win on Wednesday, okay? You can't win on Sunday unless you're winning Wednesday, Thursday, and I guess it's kind of cliched and old added, but if you live it, which is what this team did, I had a chance to watch them practice and be around the team and you start to live out on the field. I think that transfers because you've got guys you've talked about who we've got coming back. Those guys are carrying that forward with the new guys coming in and that's the mantra they want to have. All right, what is the one principle you think they can build on for 22 that happened on the field? Well, I think that the fact that they play 60 minutes, I think there's no question, that has to be a mainstay for you. But I think when you begin to look at X's and O's, I think that obviously there's a lot of places they can expand, their ability to run it with some success, their ability to stop the run with some success, I think there's a lot of ways they can go. I don't think there's just one thing they're gonna have hits or wagon to. I think if you wanna be a team that has a winning record and then is threatening the playoffs, you have to have some success in several areas. All right, now we're coming up on the top of the hour and that's when the National Football League draft will start, but keep in mind, we've taken you through the process with Terry Fontenot. You've heard from both Terry Fontenot and the way he wants this team to be and also the head football coach and what his expectations are for the 2022 campaign and what he expects out of the draft. Who are you gonna draft? Well, when we come back, we're gonna dive into the position players, the top players at the positions potentially where Atlanta goes tonight and where they may go over the weekend as the NFL draft is fast approaching. Stay tuned for more of the Atlanta Falcons pre-draft show presented by Truist in a moment. With the 16th kick in the 2020 NFL draft, the Atlanta Falcons play AJ Terrell. Looking to throw, zipping it for and intercept it. It's AJ Terrell with the pick. Here comes Atlanta with the pressure. He's gonna bail and throw and AJ Terrell's gonna pick it. How about that? Short drop, fires over the middle and it's intercepted again at the Atlanta 41. AJ Terrell. Welcome back to the Atlanta Falcons pre-draft show presented by Truist with Dave Archer, West Durham. Our top players segment is presented for you by Emory Healthcare and we've narrowed this down to five despite the fact that there've been six different positions mocked up by a variety of people when it comes to what the Falcons are gonna do tonight at eight. Let's start with Edge rusher here because that's one place that it's expected to flourish at the top. Aidan Hutchinson, Trayvon Walker, one A1B to Jacksonville and if the other one goes to Jacksonville the second one may go to Detroit too. It could and it's interesting. To me in the draft, the top eight selections are very interesting. I think you had very, very could have three defensive ends or edge rushers, three offensive tackles. Don't know where the quarterback pokes his head in. Where does he poke, if he pokes his head in for someone and then I think two corners are the next two best players that are available. So that's eight picks. So at some point you end up with some of those. Let's take a look at some of the guys. Aidan Hutchinson, Trayvon Walker I think are gonna be off the board. So Kavon Tibido potentially in play here. Don't know, but he could be in play. I think he fits the team the best to be honest with you. I think he's a guy tremendous getoff. Maybe probably the best getoff in the draft. 19 sacks at Oregon in his three seasons at Oregon but there are 18 sacks or whatever it is but he has 30 tackles for loss. So West that tells you he's not just playing the past game. He's tackling guys in the backfield in the run game. So he's playing the run game as well. And with Dean Pease's ability to amoeba the defense where the edge rusher is a lot of times a linebacker could be a linebacker. He fits the bill perfectly. The other guy Jermaine Johnson, former dog, lit it up, you know about him doing ACC games. ACC defensive player there. He's an iron man. He played 60 snaps a game. He had 70 tackles at the defensive end spot before the state. A year ago tonight, Kavon Tibido was projected the number one pick in the draft for next year. Then then tonight there'll be somebody to be projected next year. Potentially Bryce Young, Alabama but another story for another time. All right, let's go to the next slot and we're going to break these up because if it's not edge rusher, it's either corner or offensive line that most mock perhaps are the Falcons. Yeah, and I think there's only two corners potentially you're looking at. Ahmad put some sauce on it. Gardner from Cincinnati. He's got tremendous ball skills. In his career at Cincinnati, he did it all. He's 6'3", 190 can run. He's got long arms. The guy is a terrific player. He's the AAC defensive player of the year. The other is Derek Stingley. He's a little bit more of a question mark. Didn't play much as junior, sophomore and junior year because of injury. He had a boot on his foot. I think the last nine games of the year for the Tigers this last season. But if you put his tape on as a freshman, he was dynamic as good as it gets. And he ran 4-3-6 in his pro day. So that put him right back on the map. All right, offensive line. Offensive line three guys. You're talking about Evan Neal, the big kid at Alabama. A monster. It's 350 plus pounds, 6'7". Can run like a tight end. Looks like a tight end when he gets off the bus. Can play all the positions except center. So you can play him anywhere. You can play him in a right tackle wherever. Right guard, left guard. Iki Iwano, the kid out of NC State. Many feel like he's now emerged as the best guy. He is a nasty finish blocker to the back end of the whistle. He wants to crush you. And then you've got Cross Charles Cross, the tackle out of Mississippi State, who's probably the best pass blocker, pure pass blocker. 713 pass attempts at Mississippi State under the flying pirate up there, but only gave up two sacks. So he has the ability to pass block. All right, the next position, the one that's maybe been most common, is wide receiver. Wide receiver. This is an interesting group because nobody can get a consensus on who is that guy. And I think it may be a different fit for each team. I think that Garrett Wilson, great speed, run after the catch guy from Ohio State, only 180 pounds, very similar, maybe a little bit more top end speed, very similar to Calvin Ridley. Okay, you look at Drake London, big kid out of USC, 6'5", 215 pounds. Nobody's winning a 50-50 ball over him. He's going to go get it. Now you don't see him running away from anybody, but he still makes catches everywhere. I kind of liken him to maybe a Michael Thomas or a Mike Evans type of receiver, big dude, right? Then you get Chris Alave, very similar to Garrett Wilson, both Ohio State guys. And then there's the question, Jameson Williams. Is Jameson Williams a guy you draft and bet on the come? Because he's probably not going to be ready for probably until maybe October. Tourist knee-up against Georgia the national championship game, the Alabama wide receiver. Those are the top four guys that I feel are going to be there. And so, yeah, you could take one of those guys. It'd just be interesting to see. But I think they're coveted differently by different teams, maybe the most diverse group that could go in the first round. All right, the final word is at quarterback. There has been the occasional quarterback mocked to the Falcons. Yeah, I mean, when you begin to look at it, is it Kenny Pickett, maybe the more polished product, got an amazing year at Pitt, took him to the championship game, phenomenal season for him at Pittsburgh. And then you get Malik Willis, the youngster. He's an Atlanta kid, be fun for him to come home. He's got the most upside, big arm, can run. And then you get Desmond Ritter. Don't forget about him. I think you're a very accomplished guy as well. All right, stay tuned. We're coming up on the top of the hour. And that's when the 2022 NFL draft starts from Clark County, Nevada. But when we come back, we'll swing it around to the final whistle. They'll tell you who they think the Falcons are gonna pick. And then Dave and I offer our thoughts as well after this. The Atlanta Falcons select. Brady Jarrett rings the bell on third down. Jarrett takes it again. He will not pass. Will be sucked by Brady Jarrett. And that is Brady Jarrett from Rockdale America right there. Welcome back to the Atlanta Falcons pre-draft show, minutes away from the start of the first round tonight in Las Vegas. This segment brought to you by Bud Light. And we're gonna start with picks. And for that, here's Scott Bearer and the final whistle. Thanks, Wes. And now it's time for your pick at number eight. Tori McElaney, who you got, who were the Falcons taking with the number eight overall selection? So it's not a sexy pick, but I think it does help the overall health of the line of scrimmage. I'm gonna take Charles Cross at number eight. From Mississippi State. Yeah. I'm gonna go with the man with the cool name, the cool nickname, a Mod Sauce Gardener, six foot three, almost 200 pounds, the real deal. Do you think he's gonna be there at eight? I don't. But there's a way that somehow he could fall. There's a way. There's a possibility that he could fall. And if it happens, I think D&Ps will be doing backflips if he can do backflips. 100%. For Sauce Gardener, I think maybe he would. Yeah. Tori, why do you think that's the right spot? Charles Cross just locking up that offensive tackle spot. Yeah, I think that we're gonna see edge rushers off the board pretty early. I think Sauce is gonna come off the board pretty early. And I think those two top offensive tackles are gonna come off. I think if you're looking at best player available, that's really gonna help you out in 2024, 2025, beyond. Charles Cross can help your line of scrimmage. And I'm going with addressing need and what is a very good player, Florida State edge rusher, Jermaine Johnson. That guy I think is a scheme fit. He can do it all. He's quick. He likes to play the run. He likes to get after the quarterback. That's my selection, Wes and Dave, back to you. Okay, Scott, thanks very much. Dave, two questions here. Who does Jacksonville pick at one? Trayvon Walker comes off the board to Jacksonville and betting on the come there because you're not sure exactly what kind of an edge rusher he is. All I know is when that man puts his hands on you, you feel it. Yeah. He's a hell of a player. All right. My favorite question tonight is where does the draft start? Jacksonville picks at one. Where does it start tonight for you? To me, it starts at Houston at three because I wonder, are they gonna take an offensive line and they get two picks in the, what, the top 13? So at three, do they take Iquanu, the big time tackle at NC State, or do they take one of the guys that I'm kinda leaning toward in one of those corners? All right, so remember now that Texans are one of three teams with two picks in the first 13. That's right. And joining the Jets and the Giants as well. All right, who's Atlanta take at eight tonight? I think the three defensive ends that you covet are off the board. So now you're gonna come down to Jermaine Johnson or Sauce Gardener. And I'm leaning both ways. I take either one of them. I'm gonna put a little hot sauce on it and I'm gonna put the guy opposite AJ Terrell that I think can be a lockdown corner as well. And I'm putting, I'm taking a Mod Gardener at number eight because I think the stuff you wanted are gonna be off the board. I'm gonna go the other way. I think Jermaine Johnson's the guy tonight. I think the defensive end, Florida State, you mentioned the ACC player of the year. I think it's a, it fills a need. There's no question. I don't think Gardener's there. I think he's one of those guys that, that rolls off the board early. I'm also fast. I'm gonna hedge here slightly. Kavon Tibidow. Well, if Tibidow's there, I will run the card from Atlanta to Vegas and put it in. I think he fits the team perfectly. Is that under the clock? Can we get under the clock? I don't know if I could get there in time. I mean, I try to. Don't forget, we're sliding over to radio 929 the game with Mike Coddy, all the content at AtlantaFalcons.com and on social media. Good night, everybody. Go Falcons.