FLOWERY BRANCH — The Falcons set their initial draft board in February after the scouts came in from off the road.
The coaches became involved, there have been follow-up workouts and interviews, and now, it’s go time for the Falcons, who have the 15th overall pick in the draft, which is set for Thursday through Saturday in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
“This is a really thorough, detailed process that we go through, getting prepared for the draft,” Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot said Wednesday. “A lot of people involved, the college scouts and the college staff. They’re at the heart of this process. They work on it for a whole calendar year. A lot of late nights at hotels and families make a lot of sacrifices.”
Once the scouts have analyzed the video from games and workouts, the coaches must determine if the players are fits for the particular schemes.
“(It’s a) very inclusive process. The entire staff, the coaches, analytics, there’s a lot of people involved,” Fontenot said. “A lot of hard work has gone into this. So, (I’m) very appreciative. We feel very confident and excited as we get into these next few days. We know we’re going to make this team better.”
The Falcons, who have posted seven consecutive losing seasons, do need to get better.
The Falcons, clearly in need of pass-rush help, also have picks in the second round (46th) and fourth round (118th) and two in the seventh round (218th and 242nd).
“We just have to take impact players off the board at the end of the day and make sure we’re effective,” Fontenot said.
The Falcons traded their third-round pick to New England in August for outside linebacker Matthew Judon.
Also, the Falcons forfeited their fifth-round pick after being found guilty for violating the league’s tampering rules in the signings of quarterback Kirk Cousins, tight end Charlie Woerner and wide receiver Darnell Mooney.
In October 2023, they traded their sixth-round pick to the Rams for Van Jefferson.
The draft is deep with pass rushers, but a couple of them might be missing from the Falcons’ draft board because of character issues. Marshall’s Mike Green (denied sexual assault allegations/suspension) and Tennessee’s James Pearce (scraps with law enforcement/personality issues) could possibly have red flags.
“(The scouts) gather a lot of intel and a lot of information from a lot of sources, and they go through that (process),” Fontenot said. “And then again, I’m not going to get into all the specifics of how we go about gathering information, but then you have background checks. There’s a lot of layers to that.”
Fontenot said that it’s normal to have players eliminated for character issues and medical problems.
“Some players fail physicals,” Fontenot said. “You hate that. You never want that to happen. It’s sad when you go through it that … you see some players that you actually can’t draft because of the medical (reports).”
The draft process started with the Falcons looking at 800 names.
“You continue to narrow it down,” Fontenot said. “This year, it’s interesting because there’s more players on the board, draftable players on the board, this year than in previous years.”
With only five picks, the Falcons will have a hefty undrafted free-agent class.
“As you get into undrafted free agency, or the eighth round, you can call it this year because they’re going to be a lot of good players left over,” Fontenot said. “So, (we) really have to attack undrafted free agency in the right way.”
The Falcons had nearly 90 players from the area for their Locals Day recently.
“It’s cool,” Fontenot said. “That’s such a great day. There’s so many good players. I always say this, but it’s just the truth, there’s so many good players in this area. … That’s a really, really important day.”
The Falcons would have to mortgage some of their future to move up in the draft.
If they are not comfortable with Green or Pearce and Georgia defensive end Mykel Williams is off the board, they could trade back and possibly still land Texas A&M defensive end Shemar Stewart.
Those discussions have been had off the clock.
“What you want to really get a feel for going into the draft knowing who’s aggressive and who actually wants to come up,” Fontenot said. “Who’s looking to move down. You want to get a feel for those now. They don’t really materialize until the actual draft because it depends on what’s there, but that’s how those calls go.”
The Falcons study the other general managers’ tendencies based on their previous drafts.
“So you can know who’s more aggressive,” Fontenot said. “Like, what’s the rate of this GM? Seventy percent of the time, they move up. … So, you want to know who’s actually willing to make a trade. … Those calls are really important.”
Fontenot knew his number.
“I’m 75% trade up, so I’m more aggressive,” Fontenot said.
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