Atlanta Falcons: Terry Fontenot should be praised not blamed

Atlanta Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot deserves praise not belittling from the fans of the franchise.

When Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank announced that Terry Fontenot was going to be the new general manager, there was a mixed reaction. Some hated the idea that he was coming from New Orleans and they were going to get a couple of draft picks while others liked the idea that the new GM understood the rivalry.

So far, Terry Fontenot has done everything right – including how he has handled the Julio Jones situation. Players pay attention to what GMs do and Terry is making a name for himself in the right manner.

Terry Fontenot will turn around the Atlanta Falcons

After the nonsensical stunt that Julio pulled on Monday via Undisputed, the reports started coming out that Julio himself had made a trade request a few months ago. Instead of making that public at the time via media leaks – which teams often do – Fontenot kept that to himself and gave Julio the respect he had earned and took calls from teams.

Even when the heat started to turn up over the last six weeks and fans were turning on him about the trade rumors, at no point did Fontenot release the info that it was Julio who wanted the divorce, not the franchise.

Look around the league and honestly ask yourself which other general managers would have done the same?

The answer is none of them and that has to mean something.

The Falcons are under no obligation to accommodate, but at least we have a general manager who is willing to work in ways others would not have and do whatever is necessary to turn around a franchise that hasn’t been an actual contender in a decade. (A fluke Super Bowl appearance doesn’t make anyone a contender)

While no one knows how this Julio fiasco will turn out, you can be sure that this general manager is not going to pull the trigger on anything unless it makes sense for the franchise both currently as well as down the road.

We should take solace in knowing that we have a leader that will not wholesale elite players simply because they don’t want to pay them like other franchises have done in recent years and will continue to do.

There are a lot of people to blame for the current situation the Atlanta Falcons are in but Terry Fontenot isn’t one of them.