2024 NFL Draft: Fontenot says, ‘We want the best player available for US!’

DETROIT — As the hours tick down to The 2024 National Football Selection Meeting, as the late NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle called it, the Atlanta Falcons have an opportunity to set themselves up for supremacy in the NFC South for the short term. The team’s needs are edge rusher, linebacker, cornerback and quarterback. During his final pre-draft press conference, General Manager Terry Fontenot said he will refer to his draft board, but will take the best player available in the right situation. “When we talk about best player available, it’s really best player available& for us,” Fontenot said. “Because I think sometimes when people hear ‘best player available,’ they’re looking at some of the experts’ lists. But you have 32 different draft boards. They’re probably a little more similar in the top 10, but they can get very different as you go through the draft.” Many draftniks and observers have the Falcons taking edge rusher Dallas Turner with the 8th overall pick. According to the BetMGM Sportsbook, the odds of that happening are +135 at the time of publication of this story. Alabama linebacker Dallas Turner speaks to the media after winning the 2023 SEC Championship game on Saturday, December...