Falcons: Why a quarterback change in 2021 NFL Draft is logical

The pasts of Fontenot and Smith

With a new front office and coaching staff in the building there is a lot of uncertainty around the true direction the Falcons will choose to go in terms of roster building and drafting. Neither new General Manager Terry Fontenot nor new Head Coach Arthur Smith have been the top guys in an organization before, therefore making it hard to decipher their ideologies in team building without marrying it to that of their former bosses.

While in the role of assistant General Manager in New Orleans the Saints invested a lot of assets into the quarterback position, especially as of late. Now of course the team had Drew Brees at quarterback but the backup position was always looking to be improved upon and the team looked to do so as often as possible. Over the past few years the Saints brought in a couple of former (or current) starting quarterbacks in Teddy Bridgewater and Jameis Winston. On top of that the team also has remained invested in Taysom Hill (though it seems that Hill is more of a Sean Payton guy than anyone in the front offices).

Fontenot also went on a radio show recently where he eluded to quarterback being an option for the team with the fourth overall pick in this years draft, saying on The Adam Schefter Podcast: “Usually you know what to expect, but I think this year there are going to be a lot of things that happen that no one expects.”

Smith’s biggest feat is the resurrection of Ryan Tannehill’s career up to this point. In the two seasons we have seen Tannehill and Smith work together we saw Tannehill’s completion percentage jump and his touchdown/interception ratio increase.

Smith very much played to the strengths of Tannehill, though it is still unsure exactly how much designed run concepts Smith would prefer to add into the offense with a more mobile quarterback at the helm. This is where it gets tricky to analyze his preference and the type of quarterback both himself and Fontenot would prefer.