Terry Fontenot talks Kirk Cousins, Younghoe Koo, and Falcons improvement

The team’s general manager faced pointed questions about his job and roster in an end of year press conference.

Terry Fontenot had to know his end of year press conference would be a less than pleasant affair. The-now fifth year general manager has been retained by the Atlanta Falcons, but his previous four years on the job now have all ended with losing seasons, which means he’s under quite a bit more scrutiny than first-year head coach Raheem Morris. I say that knowing full well Morris is under plenty of scrutiny himself.

It was not surprising, then, to see Fontenot ready with the mea culpas. He kicked things off by apologizing to fans and continually struck the note that the Falcons haven’t done well enough and must fix that.

As you’d expect, Fontenot was light on specifics in terms of how the Falcons would get there, citing an ongoing evaluation process—we still have no word on Jimmy Lake, for example—and offering vague answers to specific questions. None of that is surprising given that it’s how this team operates and really how most NFL teams operate, but it wasn’t for lack of trying on the part of the assembled reporters.

Fontenot faced pointed, repeated questions about Kirk Cousins, Younghoe Koo, and the larger direction of the team throughout the half hour press conference. Here’s a quick rundown.

On Kirk Cousins

Fontenot was clearly trying to dispel rumors and reports that the team would release Cousins, who was benched in favor of Michael Penix with three games to go. While he says he’s comfortable keeping Cousins as a backup—something he repeated when asked about Cousins’ contract and benching—the Falcons general manager is very obviously hoping to send a signal to the rest of the league that the team will not be cutting Cousins, and will instead look to deal him. Whether that’s an effective gambit or not remains to be seen, as is the Falcons’ seriousness about keeping Cousins if they can’t find a partner and the veteran quarterback wants out. We’ll see.

Fontenot also made it clear that the Falcons signed Cousins with two guaranteed seasons on his contract because they anticipated two seasons of starting quarterbacking from him. While he said Cousins has handled everything like a pro, Fontenot also acknowledged that benching him was not the plan.

Meanwhile, as 92.9’s Joe Patrick notes, we’re probably never going to get a satisfying answer as to why Cousins went from “passable starter capable of terrific days” to “terrible and benched” in the span of weeks.

On Younghoe Koo

After several reporters tried to get Fontenot to provide more concrete information about Cousins, Mark Zinno went after the GM for the team’s handling of Koo, wondering why there was a seeming delay in putting the kicker on injured reserve and why things were allowed to get so bad. There was not a particularly satisfying answer in the offing, but as Will McFadden with the Falcons noted, they’re expecting Koo to return to form but will have competition over the summer in case that doesn’t happen.

The competition bit is about as concrete an indication as we’re going to get from the team at this stage, but it is important. Affordable, halfway decent kickers are typically out there to pick up, and the Falcons will have a shot at more tantalizing options than Riley Patterson should they want to add them. They can’t just assume Koo will be the same guy in 2025 as he was prior to 2024.

On 2025

Fontenot and Morris both noted that they understand fan disappointment and are disappointed themselves, and that 2025 is going to be a more successful year. Perhaps even has to be a more successful year, because otherwise it’s likely one or both will not return. Fontenot was asked directly about his job status and said he’s not thinking about it, though he and everyone else know this is likely his final year to turn the ship around in Atlanta.

Of course, nothing was said at either press conference that is going to make fans feel less disgruntled about the last seven years, the last four seasons under Fontenot, or the future. Fontenot was light on the details across the board, though he noted the team could trade down in the draft and would try to add to the pass rush. Realistically, and Fontenot alluded to this, the Falcons are going to have to improve from within to some degree given the breadth of their needs and a lack of massive cap space or a ton of draft picks to work with.

Nothing will be believed until we see better results, and after enduring the unusually focused grilling from the media, that was a note Fontenot himself closed out with.