The Atlanta Falcons could be taking a quarterback with the No. 4 selection in the 2021 NFL Draft. With the San Francisco 49ers seem intent on taking Alabama’s Mac Jones, that puts Ohio State’s Justin Fields in play for Atlanta.
The only sure thing in the draft appears to be former Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence heading to Jacksonville with the No. 1 pick. BYU’s Zach Wilson is the favorite for the Jets at No. 2. So no matter who the 49ers take, there will be at least two elite quarterback prospects available if you include Trey Lance of North Dakota State.
Matt Ryan will be 36 heading into the 2021 season, so the Falcons are taking a hard look at all of the quarterback prospects including sending six coaches to see Fields pro days.
New general manager discussed what he’s looking for when evaluating quarterbacks.
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Former Falcons quarterback and radio analyst Dave Archer sat down with Fontenot via video chat, and Fontenot explained why it was so critical for the Falcons to evaluate all of these quarterbacks, even Lawrence, in person.
Fontenot: That’s critical because that’s a position that regardless of where you are at your starter, we’re so excited about Matt Ryan, but we have to evaluate every one of these quarterbacks. Not just for now, when you think big picture, for example Trevor Lawrence, when you have an opportunity to see that person throw, you have to take advantage that.
Even if you’re not going to have an opportunity at them this year, you don’t know what’s going to happen three, four, five years from now in the future. So you want to take advantage of that in person exposure, and that’s why we see every single one of these quarterbacks. As much we can, get to them, see them in person and just take advantage of those exposures.
It’s the most critical position in the NFL, and we want to stack good quarterbacks. It’s a prime time to do it when you have a player like Matt Ryan. When you can get in the right quarterback, you don’t have that pressure to play him right away. It opens up so many possibilities, and we have to make sure we are evaluating those positions, and we feel good about where we are there.
