The Atlanta Falcons landed a major piece to their rebuilding franchise on Tuesday morning after hiring former New Orleans Saints vice president Terry Fontenot to be their new general manager, via the team‘s website.

Fontenot was a former football player, who had a four-year stint with Tulane in college. He didn't proceed to the big leagues as a player but he stepped into the Saints organization as a marketing intern.

He then worked his way up and served various roles for the Saints namely as a pro scouting intern, player personnel assistant, pro scout, and director of pro scouting.

After several years of handling scouting duties for the team, Fontenot was eventually elevated to become the vice president and assistant team manager for the 2020 NFL season. Fontenot has been with the franchise for 18 years before accepting the new role with the Falcons.

Due to his hiring as a minority coach in the league, the new ruling will give the Saints a compensatory third-round pick in both the 2021 and 2022 NFL Draft. Fontenot will be tasked to run the operations of a Falcons side that hasn't seen much success in recent seasons.

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JC Latham (Alabama), Chris Braswell (Alabama not Jaguars), Cornelieus Johnson (Michigan) in action behind a New Orleans Saints logo with a 2024 NFL Draft background.

Dylan Bruton ·

Atlanta recently parted ways with former head coach Dan Quinn along with former general manager Thomas Dimitroff after garnering a 0-5 start to the season. Former defensive coordinator Raheem Morris eventually stepped in to serve as the team's head coach and led the Falcons to a 4-12 record to miss out on the postseason.

Hopefully, Terry Fontenot will be the right guy who will get to cultivate a better culture for the Falcons and lead the team back to relevance.