The Atlanta Falcons just finished their seventh consecutive season with a losing record after dropping their final two games to miss the NFL playoffs. After a fourth season of losing under Terry Fontenot, how much blame should the General Manager be getting for how this year ended?
The Steakhouse discussed the pressure the Falcons' general manager should be feeling after falling short of their goals again this season.
"How do you judge guys?" Steak Shapiro asked Drew Butler on the Monday morning after the Falcons lost to the lowly Carolina Panthers. "[Terry Fontenot] had one of the most notorious bad picks in NFL history when you took Kyle Pitts."
That fourth pick has loomed over the franchise for the last three years, but it's also worth noting the tremendous acquisitions Fontenot has made during his tenure in Atlanta. Of those, Butler noted Bijan Robinson, Drake London, Jessie Bates, and what appears to be the quarterback of the future in Michael Penix.
"That's great, and everybody can agree with that," he said about those wins in the Draft. "But if you've ever seen the movie Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort says, 'I ask you not to judge me on my wins, I ask you to judge me by my losses.' There have been far more misses in rounds two through seven [and] with the majority of free agent signings that have equated to almost nothing."
Of the great picks that have been made, several of those are expected to be great selections, he says.
"Bijan Robinson at eight? That's a great pick. Drake London at eight? That's a great pick," Butler continued. "But you're picking top-10! What about the rest of the picks?"
The early-round misses with Richie Grant, Jalen Mayfield, Desmond Ridder, and Troy Andersen have set the franchise back and have forced the team to make up for them in later seasons. The reality is that the Falcons are a multi-billion-dollar business and the product has not been up to par for the entirety of the General Manager's tenure.
"Terry has now given four years in a row where you haven't been in the playoffs," Steak finished. "Ok yes, [you started] in cap hell in years one and two but it is what it is. This is a results business!"
Hear their full comments about the state of the Falcons franchise in the clip above.
