Sports Daily: Draft day cometh

What’s up, y’all? It’s NFL draft day!

The first round commences from Green Bay at 8 p.m. That means the Falcons should make the the 15th overall pick around 9:50 p.m., give or take a few minutes.

Let me know who you think they’ll go with — and I’ll save the responses for future shaming or praise.

In the meantime, whaddya say we let columnist Ken Sugiura riff a bit?

Quick links: Fontenot’s strategy | Recent pick history | Braves win again | United trades Silva

AN OFFENSIVE PICK?

Credit: Michael Conroy/AP

Credit: Michael Conroy/AP

Every Thursday, Sports Daily checks in with AJC columnist Ken Sugiura. This week he’s rapping on the NFL draft — and the Hawks firing general manager Landry Fields.

Take it away, Ken.

🤨 I’m not expecting it, but I wouldn’t be shocked if the Falcons were to use their first-round pick on an offensive tackle. Given the team’s emphasis on defense in the run-up to the draft, it would be a curveball — but it’s not like the Falcons don’t have a history of doing the unexpected with their first-round picks.

One thing general manager Terry Fontenot said at his predraft availability Wednesday prompted the thought. It was in response to a question I asked him about what he’d learned about improving the team’s draft process over his first four drafts. He basically said it was the risk of reaching for players and not sticking with the best player available.

The Falcons have been thought to be in the market for an edge rusher given the team’s anemic pass rush.

🤨 But what if, when they pick at No. 15 (barring a trade), the best player available isn’t an edge rusher? It’s conceivable that two of the top edge prospects, Marshall’s Mike Green and Tennessee’s James Pearce Jr., have been taken off their draft board because of character concerns. And maybe another edge rusher they’d be happy taking at that spot, such as Georgia’s Mykel Williams, is already gone.

In that case, if an offensive tackle they really like is still available — let’s say Texas’ Kelvin Banks Jr. — Fontenot might have to adhere to his own advice about not reaching.

With the draft deep in edge rushers, could Fontenot stay true to the draft board and come back in the second round for a pass-rush threat?

Left tackle Jake Matthews is 33 years old, and right tackle Kaleb McGary is going into the final year of his contract. It might make sense to have an elite OT ready to fill either spot to protect quarterback Michael Penix Jr.

LINK BREAK!

More Ken in a moment, but figured this was a good time to offer up a whole bevy of AJC draft linkage. Happy reading!

HINDSIGHT IS 20/20

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez/AJC

OK, here’s Ken again!

🤓 A year ago, Fontenot took a lot of heat for selecting Penix with the eighth overall pick, given that he’d just given Kirk Cousins a nine-figure contract.

The logic of Fontenot and coach Raheem Morris was that they didn’t expect to be drafting that high again in the near future, so they felt compelled to take a quarterback of Penix’s caliber when they had a chance. There may have also been an early awareness that the 2025 draft class was not as deep or strong with quarterbacks as 2024.

GM denies asking price for Cousins trade

Fontenot’s draft record is a mixed bag, and he hasn’t knocked it out of the park in free agency, either. Likewise, I’m not sure anyone is totally sold on Morris as a coach.

🤓 But you can say this: their rationale for taking Penix has come to pass. They’re picking No. 15, which is nowhere close to having a shot at the top quarterback in the draft, Miami’s Cam Ward. Further, this isn’t a draft for teams in need of a quarterback. Pro Football Focus ranks Ward as its top quarterback at No. 20 overall, and the No. 2 quarterback, Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, at No. 45.

Imagine if the Falcons hadn’t taken Penix and the 2024 season had unfolded as it had, with Cousins starting off well but then nose-diving after getting injured. Imagine the outcry for the Falcons to address the quarterback position and them being stuck with either trying to move up to get Ward, which would be a near impossibility, or having to use their first-round pick on a quarterback who probably wasn’t worth it.

The jury’s still out on the Fontenot-Morris team. But they got this move right, it would appear.

ABOUT THE HAWKS …

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

One more time, Mr. Sugiura!

The firing of Hawks general manager Landry Fields caught me and many others off guard, although a scout I spoke to Monday said the possibility had been bouncing around within the industry for at least a few weeks.

We might not ever know exactly why Ressler made the decision to relieve Fields of his duties. But here’s one possible explanation beyond the team failing to advance out of the Play-In Tournament and the team needing a scapegoat.

🤔 I think it’s telling that the club’s move wasn’t just to fire Fields and look for a new GM. It may be that the Hawks are hiring a president of basketball operations because they actually think they need one. Consider that the Hawks previously had Mike Budenholzer in that role, followed by Travis Schlenk. They’d been without one since Schlenk and the team parted ways in December 2022, with Fields becoming the top executive on the basketball side just months after becoming a GM for the first time.

The president job is typically bigger picture, while the GM handles team personnel matters. Sometimes the jobs can be held by the same person, as Schlenk had with the Hawks until Fields’ promotion in the summer of 2022. And maybe it was too much for Fields.

🤔 In this situation, it may have been that Ressler decided the team needed to have a president again. There are some big decisions coming up — likely two first-round picks, potentially a sizable amount of salary-cap room to use and the approach to star guard Trae Young — and Ressler may have wanted a more experienced hand to guide those decisions.

It’s my understanding that Ressler liked Fields and appreciated the work he had done. In the end, the change may not have been a reflection on Fields’ performance as much as it was a recognition that he still is fairly new to the job.

Everyone say thank you Ken! And give him a follow on social media.

QUICK HITS

⚾ The Braves are now 10-14, thanks to Eli White’s eighth-inning homer against the Cardinals on Wednesday. Their road series with Arizona starts tomorrow.

💵 Atlanta United sent winger Xande Silva to St. Louis for as much as $250K in general allocation cash.

⚽ World Cup matches arrive in Atlanta next year, and the city’s trying to step up its game. Meanwhile: This summer’s Club World Cup is still has tickets for sale.

😯 Appling County High football forfeited 10 wins and a region title over using an ineligible player.