Saints VP/assistant GM for pro personnel Terry Fontenot is scheduled to interview for the Lions GM job on Tuesday and the Falcons GM job on Wednesday, per sources.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) January 4, 2021
When you’ve had as much success as the New Orleans Saints have enjoyed in recent years, other teams start to pay attention. And those that can’t beat the Saints on the field are starting to try and pry away the behind-the-scenes decision-makers that have engineered four straight division wins.
The MMQB’s Albert Breer reports that the Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons have scheduled interviews for their open general manager positions with Terry Fontenot, the Saints’ vice president of pro personnel. Fontenot has spent the bulk of his career in New Orleans, where he’s played a critical role evaluating NFL free agents and helped the Saints acquire Pro Bowlers like Demario Davis, Larry Warford, and Jared Cook.
He’s also done a great job identifying players who can help pad out the depth chart and the practice squad, doing a lot to maintain one of the league’s best special teams units. It’s not for nothing that the Saints routinely rank among the NFL leaders in starting field position, in large part due to the diamonds in the rough Fontenot has unearthed.
So, yes, he’d be a huge loss to the front office. But someone with his skill at identifying talented players deserves the opportunity to call his own shots, and this early interest in his services from around the league speaks to that shared belief. Expect more teams to contact him as the hiring cycle spins ahead.
