Terry Fontenot only drafted five players this year. But did he get the RIGHT five guys? He's now running into the same issues that Rich McKay and Thomas Dimitroff faced. When McKay became Atlanta's GM in 2004, he had inherited the NFL's worst defense and an offense that was at best shaky. He acquired players for the systems of Jim Mora (Jr), Greg Knapp and Ed Donatell. The overhaul was successful quickly, with the team going to the NFC Championship a year later. But in his third season, Mora fell out of favor and was fired. New coach Bobby Petrino didn't want some of Mora's players, and after the hog-sooey nitwit skipped town, Mike Smith and his staff had all new systems that didn't fit other players that McKay had brought in specifically for Mora's systems. Draft picks DeAngelo Hall, Matt Schaub, Demorrio Williams, Michael Boley, Frank Omiyale and Laurent Robinson had successful careers after leaving Atlanta, but the Falcons were left replacing them and others (eg Chris Houston, Quinn Ojinnaka, Stephen Nicholas, Jerious Norwood, Chauncey Davis, D.J. Shockley) who previously had some success but whose skill sets no longer fit the system profiles. It continued after Dimitroff became GM, with the offensive line changing coaches/systems in 2012, again in 2014, again with a new head coach in 2015, tweaks to the scheme with new OCs in 2017 and 2019, and a whole new system with Arthur Smith in 2021. And on defense? DC Mike Nolan ran the team into the ground by 2014. After that, new head coach Dan Quinn had Richard Smith for two years, then Marquand Manuel for two years. Quinn tried to take on the DC role himself in 2019, then had Raheem Morris for 2020. Dean Pees held the DC role for the first two years under Fontenot and new head coach Arthur Smith, with Ryan Nielsen taking over in 2023 after Pees retired. But Nielsen wasn't retained when Smith was fired, and Jimmy Lake was fired after just one season, leading to former LB coach Jeff Ulbrich returning to Atlanta to take over as this year's DC. If you were keeping up with all of that, it means Atlanta is now on its ninth DC in 12 years and different coordinators in the last four seasons. The defensive players that Fontenot drafted in 2022 have had a different coordinator every year of their professional careers. And each change in the system means some players won't fit the new coaching staff's profiles. Dimitroff fourth rounders John Cominsky and Jaylinn Hawkins were selected for Dan Quinn and Raheem Morris but didn't fit for Dean Pees and Ryan Nielsen. They're now having success for other teams (Detroit and New England), but Fontenot has had to use more draft picks to try to plug those holes. Fontenot drafted Richie Grant and Darren Hall for Pees, but Hall didn't fit for Nielsen while Ulbrich opted to go another direction and not resign Grant this year - with Fontenot needing to use yet more draft picks to fill in those gaps. Several other recent defensive draft picks now have futures that are a lot less certain as well. All in all, a LOT of draft picks and free agency dollars have gone down the drain for two full decades purely because the team keeps changing schemes and profiles. So did Fontenot get the right five guys? Even if they aren't busts for Jeff Ulbrich, there's no way of knowing if Pearce or Bowman will fit the needs of NEXT year's defense or the needs of whoever the DC will be in 2027 or 2028. Jack Nelson seems like a great choice to groom for the right tackle role under our current blocking scheme, but what system will we have when his rookie contract expires? It's sad to think that Arthur Blank has gone with alleged top level consultants for his coaching changes, but the consultants have never told him that he really needs to find systems he likes and stick with them.
Sometimes the 'keep it simple stupid' method might be the best way to go... I believe the Falcons have the pure raw talent offensively to do just that, especially with the revolving doors for the coaching personal. Let the already established talent dictate the schemes, build a scheme based on the 'core' that is already established and stick with it like you stated. Too many times you see new bloods come in and have to be 'that guy' who makes the changes he thinks are going to save the day... when living by the code of, 'If it aint broke, dont fix it' gets tossed out the film room window.
