Besides Kyle Pitts, Atlanta Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot has seemed to hit on all of his first-round picks since he’s been the Falcons GM. There have also been some late-round picks such as Tyler Allgeier and Ta’Quon Graham that have definitely been good finds. You can even argue that besides Jovaughn Gwyn, Fontenot’s entire 2023 draft class that besides Gwyn consists of Bijan Robinson, Matthew Bergeron, Zach Harrison, Clark Phillips, and DeMarcco Hellams seems to be panning out very well.
However, after the signing of Kirk Cousins completely flopped, everyone in the 2024 draft class not named Michael Penix Jr. having little to no impact this past season, the Matthew Judon trade not really working out, and the Justin Simmons signing turning out to be underwhelming, the seat of Terry Fontenot has heated up a little bit. The Morning Shift explained why this is a do or die offseason for Fontenot.
“Right now you have a GM who has got a D grade at best," Mark Zinno said. "You’ve missed the playoffs four straight years. Yes, you’ve hit on your first-rounders, but you’re supposed to hit on your first-rounders, those are the easy ones to hit on. This year’s draft was nothing, you got no production from anybody, and you have now bridged two different head coaches. If they can’t make the playoffs next year what is the reason to keep him here.”
Zinno continued: “To co-sign keeping the quarterback that you agreed in part, because everything is collaborative which means no one is in charge and no one has any blame. But regardless of that you know to keep the quarterback that failed on you on this roster at the price you’re keeping him is admitting the failure and saying we’re OK with it and we’re going to keep it here. If it’s a bad decision cut bait and move on.”
If Terry Fontenot hadn’t drafted Michael Penix, or if he did and Michael Penix didn’t play well, the Falcons could possibly have a new GM right now, because of his other recent moves, and with a lot of free agents and decisions to be made on the defensive side of the ball along with having to make a decision on what to do with Kirk Cousins, Fontenot has a lot of important choices to make this offseason that will impact the present and future outlook of this team, and if he isn’t right on most of these decisions and the Falcons don’t make the postseason for an eighth straight season, that seat could go from warm to very hot for Terry Fontenot.