Falcons
Falcons GM Terry Fontenot explained how he allows his front office personnel to operate freely in order to do their jobs to the best of their ability.
“We empower our scouts. We empower our coaches. We empower our analytics,” Fontenot said, via GoLongTD. “We want to have a lot of smart people that are working really hard and are confident enough to not worry about the perception or the outside. We know it wasn’t popular to take Michael Penix last year. But we spent all the time on it and we had faith and belief in this building. The confidence in our building, our people and the process that we go through? We can ignore that outside and do everything we can do that we believe is going to get us to that championship that we’re seeking.”
Fontenot admitted he didn’t believe the team had any chance of first-round LB Jalon Walker falling to them at No. 15 and started planning interviews with other prospects as a contingency.
“You see exactly who he is when you watch the tape,” Fontenot says. “The way he plays. The physicality. The toughness. The instincts. The intelligence. It all screams off the tape. When you read all the character and the makeup on him — his Dad’s a coach. He grew up with a football in his hand. Unbelievable leader at Georgia. All those characteristics. All the work the scouts do? You don’t even need to get that information because you see it on the tape. And he’s such a versatile piece that he can play on the edge. He can play stack. He can rush from any area on the field.”
Among the players the team would’ve targeted at No. 15 was first-round DE James Pearce, whom they ended up trading back into the first round for and selecting at the back end of the round.
“But to actually see both those guys there?” Fontenot says, “It’s like, ‘OK, let’s turn in Jalon right now and let’s figure out a way to get Pearce. When you’re assessing players, you’re not just looking at everything that they are, you’re looking at your building. We did that with James and we felt great about bringing him here and helping him grow and thrive. He’s a dynamic player and we believe in the person. So, we were ready to do it. And honestly? We were ready to take him at 15.”
Panthers
Panthers sixth-round WR Jimmy Horn said he’s always felt destined to reach the NFL after being a lesser-known recruit out of Sanford, Florida.
“When coaches talk, they are like, you know, it’s only one percent that make it to the league and stuff like that,” Horn said, via Kassidy Hill of the team’s site. “When I used to hear coaches say that, I feel like they were talking to me.”
Horn predicted he would be picked up by Carolina and was quickly sold by the organization after taking a top-30 visit.
“Manifestation,” Horn said. “I manifested it, like because I came with my 30 visit here, this was one of the visits I had, and when I came up, I just felt the vibe, and I was like if I could commit right now like this was college, this is were I would have committed. It was just the energy in the building. Like when you come in, you can just feel it, it’s something special going on here, and then like we’re looking at the videos, I can see they building around the program and stuff, so this is something that I wanted to be a part of. I prayed about it, manifested it, and God answered my prayer.”
Panthers HC Dave Canales was asked what could separate receivers during the evaluation process, responding that special teams will be a “huge piece of that puzzle.”
“Special teams is going to be such a huge piece of that puzzle,” Canales said. “How can these guys help us in the coverage units? Can they help us as a returner? That’s the part where we get to challenge our guys to find a role, take this thing seriously. ‘You’re not here just to catch passes. We only get so many helmets on game day, so we need all of you guys to contribute in different ways.’”
Saints
Saints HC Kellen Moore is happy with the team’s current quarterback group despite calls from veteran DE Cam Jordan for New Orleans to bring back former starter QB Jameis Winston, who signed with the Giants this offseason.
“I like where those guys are heading,” Moore said, via the team’s website. “A lot of the quarterback process during the OTA phase is really focused on their command and their control, their ability to call the play, take control at the line of scrimmage. I thought all those guys get a check there, they did a really good job. You see them make the throws that you need to make, they certainly made those plays and I think their preparation has been really good. The execution, just the consistency is going to be the big aspect as we continue to grow this thing. But feel really good about where all these guys are at.”
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