Atlanta Falcons news: Ryan Pace departing front office

When Ryan Poles and his assistant general manager Ian Cunningham arrived in Chicago in 2022, they were replacing Ryan Pace, who had been the team’s GM from 2015 to 2021. Now that Cunningham is arriving in Atlanta, Pace is once again headed elsewhere.

NFL insider Tom Pelissero reports that vice president of football operations and player personnel, a trusted lieutenant of ex-Falcons GM Terry Fontenot from 2022-2025, is out. It’s not clear whether he chose to leave or not, but Pelissero notes that he was “highly thought of” in Atlanta. Cunningham will presumably make a new hire to fill the position.

Pace, who began his NFL career as a scout for the Saints, spent years working alongside Fontenot in New Orleans. Over his tenure with the Bears, Pace had a decidedly mixed track record in terms of augmenting Chicago’s roster, but his eye for talent and trust from Fontenot saw him land in Atlanta and undoubtedly contribute to shaping Atlanta’s roster over the past four seasons. Pace and Fontenot would presumably like to continue working together, but it’s tough for ex-general managers to get second shots in that role in the NFL. New Orleans, which is coming off a strong offseason but had been struggling to build their roster in the years prior to that, might be a logical landing spot for both.

We’ll wish Pace well wherever he may end up, and ditto Fontenot. Cunningham and the new brain trust, meanwhile, will be called upon to ensure better results than Pace and Fontenot managed in Atlanta.