The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Offseason Interview Series: Falcons GM Terry Fontenot

Episode Date: July 9, 2021

New Falcons GM Terry Fontenot joins Robert Mays for the final installment of The Athletic’s Offseason Interview Series. Fontenot discusses his approach to Atlanta’s salary cap situation and why the term “rebuild” wasn’t in their vocabulary. They also talk about the decision to draft Kyle Pitts, the Julio Jones trade and the lessons he’s learned from his time in New Orleans.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic football show. Welcome to the athletic football show. I'm Robert Mays. Very excited about today's show. This is the last entry, the eighth one, in our off-season interview series that we've done. I've had a fantastic time doing these. We have four NFL GMs, couple head coaches.

I hope you guys have gotten something out of them. I've sure gleaned a lot. And the last one is the one I definitely wanted to set up when we were getting this all together. I am thrilled to welcome. Falcons general manager, Terry Fondon. Terry, how are you doing today? Man, I'm pumped to be here.

Did you say it's your eighth? This is the eighth show of the series? Eighth show of the series, eighth and final. So we finally made it happen. But yeah, it's one of those things. You sit there in the off-season, it's like, what do I want to do? And this was the idea that I had.

I want to see how many coaches, GMs we can get on. And the fact that we got eight of them, I feel pretty good about it. I feel like we definitely got something out of this. That's really cool. So that's my number. I was number eight. growing up, I was great in high school.

I switched to number 18 in college, but 8's my number, man. So it's going to be a good show. I feel very good about this. So the first thing I wanted to ask you, I'm always so interested in the places that general managers come from, right? Because with head coaches, for the most part, you're coordinators. You're an offensive or defensive coordinator. You come from a similar world, even if it's a different side of the ball.

With GMs, you have people coming from so many different places. Some people come from a salary cap side. Some people come from the college scouting side. You came from the pro personnel side in New Orleans. And I'm curious, as you were, as you've gotten to be on the job, and as you started building your staff, where do you think your blind spots were based on your own history as the scope of the job changes? Where did you have to kind of supplement your knowledge as you started to build up the staff that you guys have in Atlanta? Yeah, yeah, that's a good question. And really, like you said, I grew up on the pro scouting.

side of things. And I remember back when I was a scouting assistant and an intern in the scouting department in New Orleans, this is probably 2003, 2004, and there were openings for entering jobs on both sides. So I could have went in as a pro scouting assistant or I could have taken the job as a National Combine Scout. And it was a, these jobs are hard to come by. But at the time it happened, And I was lucky enough to be able to make a choice in which route I wanted to go. So I said, I'm with Mickey Loomis, and we talked about it. And he specifically said, hey, if you want to, if you want to grow into a general manager, taking the pro job and being in the office is probably the best route.

Obviously, you can take it. It's such a good point. Because you're around. You kind of soak up all that information and the rhythms of the job almost unconsciously. Yeah. See, you're involved in every aspect. you're involved in the day to day. And then when you're in the office,

you're still going to get on the road. You're still going to go through the aspects of the college job and be involved in the college draft and be involved in that. But being in the day to day, it really helps you a lot just being around. And because it's about relationships. So you're building relationships with everyone in the building from all the coaches to the other scouting of staff, the everyone in the equipment room, the training room, everyone in the building.

and that's what it's all about for players. You're constantly around. So you can take any route. You can go any route, but it makes a difference. I think when you're in the building a lot. So that helped me a lot. And when you're building your staff, I think that was really important to me,

knowing where my specific strengths were and what you need to add, because I think great leaders are humble enough to know that you need to surround yourself with people that are smart than you and empower them. And that's what I really wanted to do. And if you look at the way we built, put together our staff,

we obviously retained a lot of people in the building. The Falcons have a lot of great people in the building already before I even got there. But we went through the process of wanting to find the best, regardless of if I had relationships with those people or not. I mean, you can look at the, like, for example, Kyle Smith, I didn't have a previous relationship. Yeah, I didn't have a previous relationship with him, but I did a lot of work on him. and gather all the information, just like you're looking at a player,

you're going to gather all the information and spend time with them and really figure out if they're the right people for the job. And we really felt like Kyle was the right person for that job. And Kyle, unlike me, he cut his teeth in the college scouting process and had been running the drafts in Washington the last few years. And he's a great evaluator. He grew up in the business. And so I felt like he'd be a great person to add.

and we also added a guy named DeWan Jones, who I had worked with in New Orleans, but the same thing. Duon had always worked in college scouting. So the two people that we added prior to the draft were both people that had always worked in the college aspect. And we also added Chris Olson in Houston, correct? Right. From Houston in administration.

He's another person that I did not have a previous relationship with, always knew of him. but got some great information on him and spent a lot of time because I didn't want to just surround myself or me and author. We didn't want to surround ourselves with just people we knew. And we wanted to make sure we got the best good people that were good at their jobs and had the right mindset that we were looking for. And I think we're able to accomplish that. Was there something in the process of talking to Kyle, he said either about what he values

in players, the process he uses, that made you say, that's the guy. That clicks with me. That is definitely something that resonates with the way I see this entire thing. Well, I think, you know, much like a lot of these, you always, really the information that you gather prior to even meeting the people. That's what's most important. You know, even when you gather all that information and so you kind of know who they are. And as soon as I got around him, he clicked for me. And look, he's a great evaluator.

And I know that. But I think just being around him and, you know, people have a natural energy. And this guy, he's obsessed with the process. He's obsessed with ball. He's obsessed with, he calls me at, I get calls from him at 10, 11 o'clock at night regularly because that's all he does, man. All he does is watch film and he likes to play golf too. That's all he does, watch film and play golf.

But he's just the fact that he was so obsessed with the process and he's all about ball that really just spoke to me. And it doesn't take long when you start talking to people and you get a natural respect for them, when you know what they're about and who they are as people. And so, man, there was never, I always knew that he was going to be a person that we wanted to add. It's interesting because both with him and Chris Olson, you have two organizations that had certain strengths and certain bouts of success in areas, right? Like Washington has drafted well in certain areas over the last few years. Houston put together a pretty good team, but they can never quite figure it out.

So you're taking these little kernels of just promise, things that have gone well and be like, oh, maybe he wasn't in the right situation. But I know they were doing enough good stuff that if we put all of this stuff together, as a whole, we feel pretty good about where we're going. Yeah. And it's kind of cool to get people from different places. Obviously, we have that with coaches. You get a lot of different coaches from different places.

And then so now we have, we have Washington. We have Baltimore. We have Houston. And we have a lot of people that we're still here in Atlanta. or from Atlanta. And when you get a lot of people from different organizations and you have an inclusive process and you really go through every aspect of everything, you have an open mind. And you want to really drop your ego starting with me.

And it's not just about what we've done the way we did it in New Orleans or the way we did it in Washington. You want to drop your egos and really do things the right way. And we have a head coach with Arthur Smith with that type of mindset, as smart and intelligent as he is. he doesn't have an ego. And so yet he's always listening and wants to look for new and better ways. So it's getting people from a lot of different places and really having those in-depth discussions about every single aspect of the process has been really fun.

I'm getting too far down the rabbit hole here because there are the things I want to ask you. But the one thing I want to mention about Arthur is I've always appreciated and looked fondly upon coaches who bounced around with different regimes. He was with multiple staffs in Tennessee. And I think that allows you to see the game in different ways. It gives you a creativity and kind of a humility with the way you approach certain things. So I think that makes a lot of sense. There's an open-mindedness because he didn't just learn one type of offense or one way to do it. He's had to be flexible in the way that he's coached, which probably helps the way that you guys communicate.

Yeah, that means a lot when you can do that because as opposed to a mindset where you have this specific system and the players have to fit this system or it's not going to. to work and it's that's really not the mindset. It's it's really his mindset is okay, we're going to take the players that we have and we're going to make the most of them. Now, yes, we have a profile of exactly what we're looking for. We have a plan, but understanding that that's not going to always go the exact way, you're not going to always get players that fit in this perfect box that you're looking for, but being adaptive and understanding that you have to make adjustments, that's, that's really cool with author. and man, he really grinded.

I know you know his story, but he really grinded from the bottom, and he's done all the dirty work, and he really has an understanding of what it takes in those areas. And that really means a lot. I think people really respect that. But again, a rare humility, and he's open-minded, and we're just looking for the best way to do things. So when you came in, the previous regime,

I think to Arthur Blank's credit, was allowed to push it. They spent to the cap and beyond the cap. pretty much every year for the last several years as they really tried to get the most out of that roster. But as you know in New Orleans, there are long-term ramifications of doing that. And so you kind of take over a situation where the finances are not great.

So as you were gauging just the entire picture when you took the job in Atlanta, what was the first thing you felt like you had to do? Well, it was really, you need to take your time and get in the building first because everyone has opinions from outside the building. and it's easy to look at the situation from outside the building and say, okay, these are the steps we need to take and that's it.

Because you don't know, and that's why sometimes it can be hard for fans, it can be hard for media because you don't have all the information and you don't have all the details of what's going on. And all the, and those things obviously are important in the decision-making process. So the first thing was to, without, we have our different biases, but hey, let's get in the building and me and author talk about it. We need to get in the building and really get to know the people here and really get to know this roster and get to know and take our time and go through the process.

And as we did that, we understand, look, the team was four and 12 last year, hadn't won in the last three years. And yet we have a very difficult cap situation that we're looking at. And we never wanted to, I know some people outside looking at would say, hey, you should strip it down and completely go through a whole rebuild. but that's not like if you know much about myself and where I'm from or much about Arthur Smith and his mindset, rebuilding is not, that that just doesn't make any sense to any of us. So you're not going to tell me that when we roll out there on Sunday or Monday or Thursday, whatever day it is, that we're not trying to compete and win every single game that we have an opportunity to play. And so rebuilding really isn't in our vocabulary.

So we want to be able to put together a competitive team, but yet we have challenges. in those areas. So it was about getting them to know the roster, getting in the building, and really understanding everything that all the challenges that we had. And hey, let's put together a roster. But still, we have to make decisions really in these next couple of years, converting contracts and doing some things that you don't want to do. It's not good business operation. But in the next couple of years, we have to do that just to fill the 90 men roster, just to sign your draft class. You're going to have to make some decisions you might not want to make, but we want to have balance. And we want to make sure we can do our best to put

together a competitive football team. So, you know, we have to make some tough decisions. And that's not going to change. Anytime you're a leadership position, there's going to be some real difficult decisions. But we knew when we came in that we're coming here to put together a roster to go out to compete and win football games. And I'm sure when you're looking at the talent you guys have in the building, there's a temptation to not want to rebuild because there's a lot of talent, especially on offense. And after you guys draft Kyle Pitts, it even takes another step forward.

But again, there are financial realities of this whole thing. So when you guys made the decision to trade Julio, what is the prevailing motivation there? What would you say is the number one reason you felt like you had to do that? Well, again, obviously a good player. And we wish him success in the future. But look, there were other football players that we moved on from as well, whether we players that we had to cut or players that we decided not to resign.

And again, outside looking in, that can be difficult sometimes, I would say for fans and for media to say, okay, why do we move on from this player? Why do we trade this player? Why do we cut this player? But when you have all the information in the building, then you understand why all these things happen. But every decision we make, it is going to be for the betterment of the team, the betterment the organization right now and in the future.

And sometimes you want to, again, one of the great things about author Smith is, his mindset isn't where you'll get some people that they're just worried about this season, this game, and it's hard. You want to have tunnel vision. It's hard to see the big picture and understand that that big picture. Sometimes you can make a decision that could hurt you right now, but they're going to help you big picture in the long run. And so with us, we're always going to make those decisions.

We're trying to build a championship roster, or a championship organization that's going to have sustained success. We're not trying to get the very best team that we can get in 2021. We're trying to put together a team that's going to continue to win long term. And it's always going to be about team. It's never going to be about an individual unless we're talking about, whether we're talking about the locker room or we're talking about someone on the staff or myself or it's never going to be about one person.

Look, this team, again, this team had won in the last three years. So we have to make change. It's not about one person. It's going to be about the team. And we're going to put together a smart, tough, highly competitive football team. And that's how we're going to win games. How do you think that decision benefits you in the long term? Is it financial?

Is it giving other guys opportunities? Where do you see the hidden benefits of making a move like that? Well, it's everything. I mean, it's, again, I don't want to specifically focus on just making that decision because there are a lot of factors in that, that everyone is just not fair. The way we operate, we're going to always be internal and keep things in house, so I can't always go through all the details of every decision we make. And I know you respect that.

But it's one of those situations that when we looked at all the information, and this is what was best for our team right now, and it's going to be best for our team in the future. So when you're looking at what you guys are going to do at number four, obviously that balance of the present and the future again comes into play. because a lot of people thought, will they take a quarterback because they're in a good position to do it when they might not be in the future? So when you were thinking about that timeline when you made that decision, how did those two timelines come into play when you decided to take Kyle with the fourth pick? Yeah, so we spend a lot of time obviously on the quarterbacks and we waited because I know that's where you always want to stack quarterbacks and you don't ever want to be picking in the top five again.

And so you have to consider every possibility. And we did. And we always, we went to spend a lot of time on the quarterbacks, evaluating them. And this was a unique year with three consecutive quarterbacks going, one, two, three. And do you know when the last time that happened was? It was like decades ago. It was sometime in like the, yeah, I can't even remember when it was. It was 1999.

It's a year I graduated from high school. So it was Tim Couch, Donovan. at NAB, Akely Smith, one, two, three. And then there were two other quarterbacks that went around as well. It was Dante Cald Pepper win 11. And then Kayne McCown. Yeah, Kate McNow. Yeah.

And so. You see the Bears home behind me. Trust me. I remember. I see it, man. Yeah. I know you're a bear's guy, man. But it was, it's kind of unique for that to happen for quarterbacks to just

come off the board the way they did. And look, it's at the end of the day, you're not going to, just because you pick a quarterback in the first round doesn't mean they're going to be successful. Now, now you want to, obviously, in our mindset, in our minds, we're always going to take the best player off the board. And that's how we see it. And that's how, and Kyle Pitts, we're very excited about him. And we feel like he's going to, he's going to make an impact for us. And we're excited about that player. We weighed everything, whether we're talking about taking a quarterback, trading back, we weighed all the different possibilities. And when we came down to it, where we were,

sitting there at four, we felt like he was the best, the best player on the board. And that's our mindset. Now, look, right now we have, we have Matt and we love Matt. We're excited about Matt and his mindset, his work ethic, and just the way he competes and the passion that he has. We're excited about him. We have AJ and we have Felipe. And that's our quarterback room. We're excited about it. And we're going to continue to add. We're always going to be looking to add quarterbacks and we're and be looking at every other position. But when we sat there at four, man, we're really excited about getting cow pits in this building.

One of the things, I think, part of the dialogue around that decision I think is unfair to you guys is that you shouldn't pick a quarterback if you don't love them. Just because you have to have the opportunity to pick one in the top five, if your staff isn't in love with the guy and there isn't total organizational belief in whoever's there, you shouldn't just do it because you're picking in the top five. I think that's a route to a mistake. So I completely understand where the fact that three guys came off the board, that just because you have the opportunity to do it,

it doesn't make it the right decision. I completely understand where you're coming from with that. So with, oh, go ahead. Well, I was just about to say, yeah, and when you look at the history of the position, it is, it's tough for those guys. It's tough for any first round pick, but particularly at the quarterback position.

So when you look at the history, there's a lot in the graveyard, and yet it's about the team and where you are as a team. And so in another building, they could, from their perspective, they could see a certain quarterback or a certain position a different way. And so you just have to look at your building and where you are as a team.

Where we are as a team, Cal Pitts is the best player for us to pick at four. Now, if another team was sitting at four, they might have seen it differently, whether it's an offensive lineman or a quarterback or a different receiver. But it's about us looking at our building and going through the process and doing what's best for the Falcons. We really believe that's what was best for us. Not a lot of other teams that quote unquote need quarterbacks have an MVP quarterback already in the building. So you guys were in a slightly different situation than some of those other kind of quarterback needy teams. So with Kyle, I'm really curious in the process of you guys talking about him, when do you think you really zeroed in on it?

What do you think was the timeline and what do you think was the ultimate reason that you're like, you know what? That's him. That is the guy. Yeah, well, we just continue to go through the process. And it's a rare position of being in being at a. being at four and really having a good feeling for what's going to happen in front of you because we really did have a good feeling about that. And so that's just a unique situation of being.

So strange. I mean, it's unprecedented. It's so weird. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. And so, but the entire process, he did check every box because obviously he has a rare skill set. And we love the skill set.

We love what he can do. And every time, every exposure we had to him, when you meet him and spend time, with him. He's got the right makeup. He's only 20 years old, but definitely one of the more mature 20-year-olds I've ever been around. And he's a worker, just the way his presence, and he's one of those guys that was raised the right way. So when you have that skill set combined with the makeup, then you feel like that person's going to really be able to reach their ceiling. So I would say really solidified it for us that, and what told us that, hey, if we're sitting here at four and the things that happened that we expect to happen,

we're taking him. I would say the man that he is really solidified that for us. So every time we met him, we felt good about it. Was there a moment either a game you watched, a play you watched, a conversation you had with your scouting staff that was particularly pivotal that's kind of stuck with you?

I wouldn't say that. I would say the consistency of it, though, whether you're talking about it. Any game you throw on is probably going to do that for you. Yes, I would say that there was a real consistency about, like you say, any game you put on, any workout, any meeting with him. And we have so many people involved in the process with the coaches and the player development. We have so many people that are involved in the process. And there was a consistency about the player. And there

was any time, whether we're talking about the man he is, the makeup, or we're talking about the skill set and the player he is, there was a consistency about it. Do you feel like because he's so unique when it comes to his skill set that you guys had a hard time doing historical comparisons or understanding appropriate value just because he's so different than essentially every prospect that's come along in the past 10 years? Yeah, he is unique. It is hard to, it is hard to draw comparisons to him and to put him in a box and say he's a tight in or he's a big receiver. It was really hard to draw comparisons to him. But what made the process, I don't want to say easy, but when you have a head coach that is your play caller and that he's when he's

very convicted on something and the coaching staff is very convicted and the scouting staff is very convicted when everyone is, then you feel really good about it. But I would say that hearing the head coach and talk about the ways that he could use him and what he's going to do for him on offense, when he's the one that's calling the plays, that really makes it. difference. What sort of specificity is there in those conversations? Does it happen on a whiteboard? Is it like this is where he's going to line up? Does it get that granular when you guys are talking about it? Okay. Yeah, it does. It gets that deep. It's from the whiteboard to just watching film and just yeah, we really get down to it. You spend so many, so much time with these guys. And it's kind of,

when you're talking about it, you see people's eyes light up and that they get really excited. I'm sure in your first year, that excitement, and again, that organizational buy-in, that's important. You want to feel like especially when it's the first pick you're going to make that everyone's moving in the same direction on it, just to get things started on the right foot. Yes, 100%. You want to draft, whether you're talking about the draft or you're talking about free agents, you want to bring in people that you're highly passionate about and that you feel really good about. And there was such a good, such good communication between the coaches and between the staff. And when you, when you're really passionate about the players that you bring me in, you feel really good about them. There's a real excitement about it.

That's awesome. You couldn't be. And because sometimes it's not, I mean, sometimes you'll have players or decisions that you make. And everyone's not always going to be on the same page. And that's what you want. You want people that are going to give their, their opinions. You don't want group ink. You don't want yes, man.

and I believe we have that in our building. We have people that are going to give their opinions or well-researched opinions. And so when everyone is on the same page, I think those are unique opportunities. And this was definitely one of them. So I want to ask you a little bit about your time in New Orleans because for the past few years, you guys went on a heater when it came to personnel. I mean, if you look at all the decisions stacked up, there's maybe one or two misfires in both the draft and for agency over a several year period,

which is rare in this business. It does not come along very often. So I wanted to ask you, over that stretch, maybe starting in like 2017 and moving forward, what's the most important lesson you learned about that success and what fueled that success? Yeah, that's a great question. And I would say some of the things that some of the best things I learned in New Orleans that it really is about makeup. And when I say makeup, I'm talking about personal character, who the people really are as human beings. you want good people and then

football character. And when I say football character, I'm talking about they love the game, they love to watch film, they love the process, they want to, they love the weight room, and they love all those areas.

So when you bring in the right character, then you've got a better chance. And sometimes you are going to take some chances because we've all made mistakes. And so you're going to have some guys that have made some mistakes along the way, but yet they're trending in the right direction and they love ball and they're passionate about what they do.

And not just with football players, but with everything from staff to coaches, you want the right makeup. And I would say in New Orleans, we always focused on that makeup. We knew exactly what we were bringing in the building. And that's why even here, we focus on that smart, tough, highly competitive.

We know the type of team we want to build. So we're going to spend a lot of time focusing on that makeup and making sure you're going to have the right character of the locker room. we always talk about in New Orleans, you don't want the best 53, you want the right 53. And that's something that so early on with my conversations with Arthur Smith and with him talking about the right 53 and with him talking about the types of teams that he wants to build, that's, I think, where we really, we're on the same page with that and that really

drew us to each other. So I would say a lot of, look, they do a great job from Sean Payton, Mickey Loomis. They're two great leaders that have different, you. unique styles with Mickey being one of the more patient, just one of the better listeners that's been around and just his, I've learned so much about him in terms of servant leadership and just the way he operates and he's the best in the business. And then you take Sean Peyton, who's one of the more who is not like that. He'll literally do whatever he can to win.

And there are no boundaries and there are no. So being around both of those great men and great leaders. and really getting to learn from them and the way they work together. Just like with me and Arthur Smith, we have a great partnership. And from the very beginning, we knew that's what it was.

It's a partnership. And we discuss everything. We talk about everything. And I believe, and I learned that in New Orleans. It's a partnership, and it's about doing it together. And it's about making sure you have the right people,

and you focus on those people and the personal and the football makeup and make sure you're bringing the right people in the building. One of the things I think it's underrated about Sean is just how good he is at identifying talent and his traits as a personnel evaluator. What do you think is his biggest strength when he looks at the types of players he wants to add to his roster? Well, he just wants to have a clear vision. And again, he's communicating with everyone in the building and obviously Mickey being the same way. And it's just about having that clear vision.

So you have to have a plan with whatever you're doing. You have to have a clear plan for how this player is going to succeed, how they're going to fit in. And you're not just adding a collection of athletes. You want to have a clear vision of how you're going to utilize those players. So there's a lot of discussion that goes into it. And it's an inclusive process in New Orleans. And we have an inclusive process in Atlanta. And I think so.

Anytime you're bringing players in, you have to be on the same page. You have to have a clear vision for those players. The fact that Sean is an offensive play caller who's also the head coach, do you think your experience with him helps inform the way you want to work with Arthur? because it's pretty much the same situation. Well, it's, I will say this about Arthur Smith. He's the, yes, he's the offensive coordinator, and that's cool when we're talking about offensive players.

But, man, author is a, to be a head coach, he's not an offensive coordinator trying to be a head coach. Arthur Smith is a leader. He's a leader of man. And so it's been really cool with every decision, whether even when we're talking about offensive decisions, he's not going to just make a decision because he's the offensive play caller not involve Dave Ragoam and whichever position we're talking about that position coach. And he's going to, just like he involves Dean and Marquise, if we're talking about

defense or special teams, he's the same way with offensive coaches. So the way, and I've said it before, he's one of the smartest people I've ever been around, but the cool thing about him is that humility he has and the way that he does involve everyone in the process. So he's confident, but he's yet he's humble. And he involves everyone, everyone in that decision making. So I would say I don't I don't really feel like I'm talking to a guy that was an offensive coordinator last year. I feel like I'm talking to someone that's been leading a great organization for a long time. So he's well well he's way past his experience in that regard as a leader. The last thing I wanted to ask you about because I think it's one of the best free agent

signings of the last decade, especially when you're talking about non-quarterbacks, is you guys getting to Mario Davis into Orleans because I think it's such an indication of the types of talent and where you guys found it with the Saints. What was it about DeMario Davis? What were the boxes that he checked that drew you guys to him in the process? Yeah, well, he was, number one, he's a, he's a great man. And we go back to it and we talk about he really is a great man. And I wish him success.

He's going to have a lot of success after football because he really is a great human being that loves ball. And we talked about inclusive processes and making sure everyone's involved. And looking at the overlaps and in the Warlands, there was an overlap. Aaron Glenn was with him in New York. And so he knew the man that he was and he and we always want to get all that information. He spoke highly of him as a man. And it's not magic.

You look at him, he's fast, he's athletic, he's physical, he's tough, and he's a good dude. I mean, you go back and look at the tape the years prior, prior to New Orleans signing him, it was really good. I mean, 100 plus tackles and leading inside backers and sacks. And so he's a really good football player and a really good person. So there's really no magic in it. And you sign him and credit to Dennis Allen. And he does a good job just like D&P does, putting players in position to be successful.

And that's a big part of it. And you talk about player acquisition and people talk about talent evaluation and being able to identify talent. but there's always two parts of it, whether you're talking about college players or pro players, it's about having the right staff and the right situation to put them in position to be successful, to help them develop. And that's what I'm so excited about in Atlanta because of our head coach and because we have great talent evaluators. We also have authors put together a great staff that is going to be able to develop those players

and put them in the best situations to succeed and get them. him prepare for games because it's really two parts of it. So with the Mario in New Orleans, he had the skill set, he had the makeup, and then Dennis and the staff did a great job putting him in position to be successful. And that's what we plan to do here with anyone we sign. It helps when you're on the personnel side and everyone you add to a roster consistently becomes the best version of themselves like they did in New Orleans. It helps you guys look pretty good all the time. No, you're right. And that's really what we're trying to do, right? We're trying to get those players and really make them the best version of themselves.

And when you focus on the makeup, because that's what with our four agents, it was a really fun offseason because obviously we didn't have money. And so anytime we talk to an agent or our player, we lead off with, hey, we have no money, but we have a great culture. And we want you to be a part of something special. And so when players signed here, we didn't have to worry about players signing here just for the money. and they were going to turn it in and they didn't want to, the players that signed here,

like they wanted to come be a part of something special. And they really fit the profile that we were looking for. So it was a fun offseason. And that's our plan. Our plan is to get the best versions of them and get the best of, get the best of them on again, Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays, whenever it is. When you guys sign a guy like Mike Davis,

do you have Arthur say, like, this is how we use Derek Henry? This is what you can be in that offense. Is it that clear in that? kind of open with it? Well, no, I would say one thing that that authors really good about is he never wants to compare players to previous players and really put that on him. So you don't want to put that type of expectation. We want Mike Davis to be Mike Davis. And obviously we have certain things that we see that he can do. And yet now we get him in the building and let's really figure out

what works best for him and how we're going to utilize him or our cardero, Patterson or all this. Like we really figure out, hey, how we're going to use these players once we get him in the building. So Arthur, he never really points to. And we watch some Tennessee Titans tape just because that's the film that he's had over the previous years. But he's very clear when he's talking to the staff or talking to the players that,

I don't expect anyone to try to be a player that he had in Tennessee or he's not trying to duplicate or one of those players. he really wants each player, like you said earlier, to be the best version of themselves. And sometimes it takes getting the player, we know what we like about the player, but then once you really get around them, get them in the building and spend a lot of time with them,

you know what works best for them. And obviously, that's what the all season and training cap and all that's for. Awesome. Well, I could do this for a long time, but I know that your time is valuable. So I sincerely appreciate you taking the time out to do this. It really means a lot. It was a great conversation.

Congratulations on the gig. You're somebody that I think your name came up consistently over the years for good reason because you've certainly earned it. So best of luck with you guys this season in Atlanta and going forward. And I appreciate you. Can I ask you a question really quick? Sure. So I obviously know to the right of you, you got the bears, but it's a little blurry on your left. I can't tell what that helmet is.

That's my high school football helmet. That's great, man. What high school is it? Barreons in high school and outside of Chicago. So they gave us that when graduated. I mean, that thing is now I graduated in 06. so it's now 15 years old. But our staff is still there.

Like my head coach is still there. My offensive line coach is still there. So I still go back and visit and talk to them and watch the games and stuff. It's a nice little family that they've built there. What position did you play? I played offensive defensive line. Nice, man. Yes.

It's a little bigger than I am now. I was a little bigger than I am now. I played at like 230. So it's not living at 2.30 these days, thankfully. That's so cool. I have my high school helmet in the, I have my high school helmet and my college helmet in the background in my office. And I have it kind of in, like when I did my first interview with Atlanta and actually my press conference as well,

I had my helmets in the background. And it's funny. Like people don't realize high school ball, man. I still remember like a lot of the best lessons I've learned from coaches came from my high school coaches. You know, and it's really cool. It's one of those things that even on. on Fridays, I always find a high school game to go to, you know, because that's just, it's just, it's the purity of the game. And that's when I felt in love with football, playing a high school ball, man.

So I appreciate you having that helmet back there. Now, I feel the exact same way. I mean, a lot of just formative lessons, relationships. I mean, guys that lifelong friends to this day solely because when you play with a guy, it just changes the way you interact with them. The bond is just different than you'd have with anybody else. It's special. And my high school offensive line coach was my psych. like a teacher in my senior year, my second semester, if you got an A or B in your classes,

you didn't have to take your finals. And I just slack the whole semester. I did no work. I did nothing. And he gave me a C plus and he made me take the final. He was like my second and he made me take it. And it's just that type of thing has stuck with me is that he would just never, ever let me cut a corner ever. And that's the type of stuff that doesn't go away. You appreciate that 15 years later when you think about it. That's really cool, man. I agree with you 100%. sad. Awesome. Thank you very, very much. We'll talk to you soon. Okay. Thank you, man. Talk to you later. All right, guys. That's all we got. That's all we got from the offseason interview series as a whole. Eight episodes, I learned a lot. I'm so glad we did that. It was a lot of fun, really informative. I hope you guys enjoyed it. We will be back next Wednesday. It's me and a couple of my fantasy friends. We're going to do a big fantasy blowout as fantasy draft season get started here. So please come back and check that out.

Please rate and review the podcast on your podcast platform of choice. I would sincerely appreciate that. Also, please subscribe to The Athletic. Theathletic.com slash football show. I will be writing early next week. It's been a while, but I will be doing that early next week. We'll be ramping that up as we get going camp. So please go check that out.

Please enjoy your weekend. It's the summer. Get outside. Do something fun. We'll talk to you guys later. This was the Athletic Football Show.