There were plenty of controversial decisions made in the NFL draft back in April. San Francisco trading up for Trey Lance at #3. Dallas taking a linebacker over a tackle at #12. The Jets trading up for a guard. Tennessee taking a corner at #22 coming off back surgery. Pittsburgh taking a running back in the 1st round. Green Bay taking a corner over more help for Aaron Rodgers. Yet one team is still getting heat even now. That being the Atlanta Falcons and their decision to pass on Justin Fields.

Brent Sobleski of Bleacher Report went into deep detail on why that move didn’t and still doesn’t make sense. Especially with how the Falcons executed the entire thing. Their moves throughout the process that led them where they are now didn’t help them either in the short-term or the long-term. Sure they landed uber-talented tight end Kyle Pitts, but they also had to get rid of Julio Jones. So the offense didn’t exactly get better.

This isn’t even counting what they did with Matt Ryan’s contract.

In order to alleviate a major salary cap problem, they restructured his deal to gain $14 million in space. However, that merely pushed his cap hits down the road in 2022 and 2023. Now Atlanta will have to absorb $48.6 million and $43.6 million respectively in cap hits the next two years.

Even if they manage to find a trade partner after June 1st next offseason for the QB, who will be 37 by the way? They’ll be stuck with $24 million in dead money. This would’ve made sense if the Falcons felt they were close to contending. They’re not. Sobleski put where they really are into proper words.

“Something Stealers Wheel sang long ago applies to the Falcons’ relationship with the team’s all-time leading passer:

Yes, I’m stuck in the middle with you
Stuck in the middle with you
Here I am
Stuck in the middle with you

The combination of keeping Ryan, passing on Ohio State’s Justin Fields and moving on from Jones doesn’t make sense. It’s a scattershot approach based on flawed logic.”

Things couldn’t have broken their way any better and they chose to pass on it. Fields, arguably the most talented QB in the class (and a GEORGIA-NATIVE on top of that) slipped right through their fingers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqxXyXRlBt0&t=1s

Atlanta Falcons overestimated how close they are

Ryan is still a productive quarterback. This is true. However, the problems with their team go deeper than his age. Their defense is still a big problem and has been for years. Now their offensive line is riddled with question marks and they also had to trade their all-time great wide receiver. One could make an easy argument Atlanta is the third-best team in their own division behind Tampa Bay and New Orleans.

They look like a team that won’t be in the Super Bowl conversation even with Ryan for at least another year or two. By then it may be too late. That makes their decision to pass on Fields all the more baffling. Holding that #4 pick represented arguably the best opportunity they may get to land a future franchise quarterback. Instead, they took a player that at best will help them reach fringe playoff contention.

“A discrepancy emerged during the evaluation process. Fontenot wanted to take a quarterback with the fourth overall pick, albeit North Dakota State’s Trey Lance, while Smith thought he could squeeze a couple more years out of Ryan, per ESPN’s Chris Mortensen (h/t The Falcoholic’s Evan Birchfield).

Fields was never a consolation prize, even though he fell to the 11th overall pick. His natural ability reached or surpassed the first three quarterback prospects off the board.

In fact, Fields graded as the most accurate quarterback prospect since Pro Football Focus started evaluating collegiate players. His CPOE (completion percentage over expected) trumped Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Joe Burrow—all of whom heard their names called with the first overall pick in their respective draft classes.”

Despite the pre-draft concerns, all were nitpicking at best.

Talent-wise, Fields was on par or better than every quarterback in this draft. If new Falcons head coach Arthur Smith was confident in his ability to develop quarterbacks, then that should’ve been an easy decision. Unfortunately, like so many coaches he was focused on the present. Not the future. That is why GM Terry Fontenot gets paid. To make those tough decisions. He chose to pass.

If Fields ends become a thing in Chicago, his tenure with the Atlanta Falcons may not last as long as he hopes.