Proprietor says proper folks in place to make Falcons winners

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank gave what sounded like a significant vote of confidence for his coaching staff and front office during a news conference Saturday.

Blank said he believes that the Falcons have the right pieces to become a consistent winner, provided quarterback Michael Penix Jr. becomes the franchise quarterback whom people in the organization think he can be.

“I definitely think we have the right people,” Blank said after the team’s second training camp practice. “I think they continue to demonstrate that, I think, during this offseason, and how they built during free agency and particularly decisions … in the draft. And I think continuing to reflect on the coaching staff, making some changes on the coaching staff. And if the emperor has no clothes, you’ve got to say the emperor has no clothes. And I think our leadership team has done that, and I think that’ll make us better.”

The Falcons drafted edge rusher Jalon Walker with the No. 15 overall pick in the draft, and then aggressively moved back into the first round by giving up next year’s first-rounder to select edge rusher James Pearce Jr. That position was the team’s biggest need — Atlanta has been one of the worst teams in the league at getting to the quarterback for the better part of a decade.

Atlanta also fired defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake after just one season with the franchise and brought in former New York Jets interim coach and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich to replace him. Ulbrich and current Falcons head coach Raheem Morris were on the Atlanta staff that went to Super Bowl LI in 2016-17.

“I think we have the ingredients that we can look forward to in order to be consistently competitive,” Blank said.

But the Falcons have not had a winning record nor a playoff berth in seven seasons. General manager Terry Fontenot is going into his fifth season on the job, and Morris is now in Year Two. Conventional NFL wisdom would have it that this would be a pivotal year for the coaching staff and front office. Blank made it known in the offseason that he was unhappy after an 8-9 season in 2024.

Blank, though, said he believes not being able to find a franchise quarterback since the departure of Matt Ryan after the 2021 season has impacted the organization. Blank’s feeling is that the right quarterback, plus consistency in coaching, personnel and ownership makes for the right recipe for a winning team.

“My feeling … is that we’re in a better place now, teamwise, coachingwise, totally across the board than we’ve been in a number of years,” Blank said. “And so we were close last year, didn’t finish the way we wanted to finish, for sure. Every one of the coaches would say that. [The] players would say that, as well. And certainly, I feel that way, but I think incrementally we’ve gotten that much better. And so, I look forward to the season and a different set of results at the end of the season.”