Until the Atlanta Falcons took a pair of defenders in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, they were on a streak of taking four offensive skill position players in a row. Well, now those players are starting to come up for new contracts and the Falcons will have some decisions to make.
Perhaps the most urgent is 2022 first rounder (No. 8 overall) wide receiver Drake London. The Falcons picked up his fifth-year option a few months ago which means he isn’t eligible to be free agent until after the 2026 season. He’s coming off of a big season and if Atlanta can learn anything from the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys, they’ll get this done sooner rather than later.
General manager Terry Fontenot says they love what London is about and they would like to keep him around.
“We always talk about it’s not just about the production, but it’s the mentality and the type of person Drake is and the way he carries himself, the way he works. Everything that we preach that we want to be, he’s about those things,” Fontenot said Sunday. “No different than the way we talk about Chris Lindstrom as a guard. We know the skills he has as a guard, but the way he carries himself, the consistent worker, the mentality.”
Terry Fontenot thinks Drake London is worth keeping around
There is no rush at the moment on locking up running back Bijan Robinson, who was taken with the eighth-overall pick in the 2023 draft. If he balls out again like he did last year, there will be a contract waiting for him. Michael Penix, Jr. is in his second year and the Falcons don’t even know if he can play yet.
As for tight end Kyle Pitts? Yeah, that’s not looking good; he’s playing out the fifth-year option this season and they’d just like to get what they can out of him at this point.
But, of the four highly drafted position players, London is the one they need to lock up sooner rather than later and Fontenot knows it.
“He’s one of those guys that whenever – if we’re not winning or he’s not successful or we’re not successful as a team, it bothers him,” Fontenot continued. “He’s not just OK showing up and things just going on. He wants to be the very best he can be for the team.”
What is the wide receiver market looking like these days?
Ask the Bengals and Cowboys what it was like waiting to sign deals with Ja’Marr Chase and CeeDee Lamb respectively. How much money did feet-dragging save them? Exactly.
If the Falcons want to get the best deal possible on London, they should subscribe to Issac Newton’s The Sooner the Better Theory of 1701 or they should peruse Charles Sumner’s No Time Like the Present Treaty of 1854. The market is going to be what the market is going to be, but Fontenot didn’t rule out getting cute and playing the waiting game.
“There are times that as you study the market, there are times going early to the market can be beneficial when you’re looking at it, but then there’s also times, if you look historically, that it’s OK to wait to the appropriate time,” Fontenot said. “So, we weigh those factors. We’re constantly studying contracts that come in and studying the market and what we expect and trying to anticipate things.
“It’s a case-by-case basis, but we’re clear with how we feel about Drake.”
Not sure I’d wait too long if I were Fontenot since his clock is ticking as the general manager.
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