Pressure Ramps Up on Terry Fontenot After Aggressive Atlanta Falcons Draft

Atlanta Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot can sit back and breathe, but not for long. 

After a strong draft showing in Green Bay, the general manager placed the team in a far better position than last year from a talent potential standpoint. Fontenot checked most of the boxes and made and aggressive trade in the first round to make a playoff run - something the Falcons haven’t experienced since 2017. 

Now entering his fifth season and using his 2026 first round pick this year, demanding expectations arrive. His seat was warm heading into the 2025 season, and Fontenot pushed his chips across the table and went all-in.

In order to land Tennessee edge rusher James Pearce, Jr., the Falcons swapped their 2026 first-round pick, a second for a third and sent a seventh-round pick to the LA Rams. Granted, cynics and skeptics could say the team spent too much to get back into the first round, but quality edge rushers are like pitchers in baseball: you can never have too many good ones.

Fontenot understands that 2026 picks will not help him if the team fires him in the offseason. As a result, he spent future capital for immediate results. Job preservation, taken to familiar heights. It’s a risky move from the Falcons point of view, not so much for Fontenot. 

You can’t plan for tomorrow if you won't be in the building.

2024 showed the best under Fontenot. At the same time, the Falcons did not finish strong and ended up falling short of the playoffs. Some of that resides at the feet of a defense that could not effectively generate a consistent pass rush without putting the back end at risk. Of course years of defensive neglect by Falcons’ management partially falls on Fontenot as well. 

When a team starts a season at 6-3 with everything trending upward, proceeds to falter to a 2-6 record down the stretch, deep-seeded problems exist. Four teams scored at least 30 points in the final seven games against the undermanned Falcons defense. That's four losses when two of those games, if won, change an 8-9 season into a 10-7 campaign. 

Two trade ups and draft capital, pushed into the middle of the table by Terry Fontenot. He doesn't have time or a game to spare. Granted, he seemingly exceeded expectations with shrewd drafting. Yet, that double-edged sword becomes the Sword of Damocles, hanging above the general manager's head. 

Literally, no excuse exists for the Atlanta Falcons to not make the playoffs. The Saints are muddling through an identity crisis. The Panthers still look like they're a year or two away. Tampa Bay won the division because of the Falcons collapse, not due to anything they truly accomplished alone.

Fontenot addressed the defense in a big way in 2025, but he’s going to need those picks to come good quickly, or he probably won’t survive another losing season.