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ATLANTA- Georgia Tech continued preparations for the annual spring game on Wednesday with a two-hour practice session and after practice receivers coach Trent McKnight met with the media for the first time since arriving on the Flats and a trio of his receivers, Eric Singleton Jr., Chase Lane, and Malik Rutherford spoke as well.

"It has been a really good camp and it has been fun to work with this group of coaches and players. It is fun seeing guys get better and we've got a great receivers room that is hungry to go out there and get better," McKnight said. "It has been fun and I've been learning a lot with this offense."

McKnight was the offensive coordinator at Georgia State until Shawn Elliott quit in the middle of spring camp several weeks ago. That created a ripple effect that sent Dell McGee from Georgia to Georgia State and then Tech receivers coach Josh Crawford to UGA to replace McGee. McKnight was picked to replace Crawford on the Flats giving the new Tech coach a rare win for an assistant coach. He didn't have to move his family or anything to take another job. He simply had to pack up his office and move up the road to Tech.

"Well, it worked out great for me. I'm thrilled to do death to be over here," McKnight said when asked about the unusual timing of the move to Tech. "The thing I love most about being here is the people, from Coach (Brent) Key to the offensive staff to the receivers room and the entire team. It was a whirlwind of what happened over there, but the good Lord took care of us and got us over here. I've been lucky this is going on year eight living in Atlanta and we love living here. I was blessed with my kids, nothing has changed for them. Same schools, same baseball teams, same friends, and you are not always going to go through a transition like that. They just have to learn a bunch of new players here."

The small world of coaching helped McKnight land at Tech because he had connections to Buster Faulkner through the coaching world and knew Key a little from the road.

"I've known the staff from being right down the street from camps or whatnot and Buster and I have coached with some of the same people so that was part of the relationships and with Coach Key, I would see him on the road and get a chance to interact with him, but I think this always comes down to relationships and I think some of the success we had with receivers over there," McKnight said. "We've been at camps and other things where I've got to know them a little bit better, but it is a lot of fun to be where and work with this group on a daily basis."

Terry Fontenot doesn’t want to have needs. Terry Fontenot likes to drink a sensible amount of water, have filling snacks, and get enough rest to ensure he can go into his average day tackling what he wants to, not what nature compels him to.

Okay, I don’t know if Fontenot’s roster-building philosophy extends into his personal life, but I do know that he abhors a vacuum on this Atlanta Falcons roster. The team’s general manager has made it clear again and again that he would prefer not to go into the draft, much less the season, with any major holes on the roster. When and where he can, Fontenot and this front office will make smaller signings, tinker with depth, and otherwise ensure there are options to avoid the team having to make a panicky pick or signing just to have a living, breathing NFL player on the field at a key position. There’s no other way to say, with a straight face, that you plan to draft the best player available.

I thought we might see a bit of a reversal of that given just how quiet the Falcons have been, with perhaps a low-level signing or two in early April, given the long silence on defense that followed the big spending flurry on offense that kicked off free agents. I thought perhaps the team might tackle some of their outstanding needs after the draft, and they still very well may. But the Falcons are lumbering to life in free agency again in a way that makes me suspect Fontenot will once again

Consider the following:

We’re missing a seemingly inevitable safety signing—the market is still flooded with quality options—and a bit more help up front, preferably with a player like Calais Campbell who offers you some versatility and a really high floor. There’s still three weeks to go, though, and I expect Fontenot and company to land a couple of options that will help sew up remaining needs ahead of the draft. They’ll be affordable and they’ll be exceedingly unlikely to be slam dunk, high-end starters, but those signings now seem like a lock to happen.

Simply put, last season’s offseason spending spree and fortunate hits on players like LaCale London, DeMarcco Hellams, and Nate Landman have drastically improved this team’s depth heading into offseason, and now the team will use their very limited dollars to stock the rest. The team’s high-profile misses with their pursuit of edge rushers like Danielle Hunter and Montez Sweat have hurt and the pass rush is still very much a work in progress, but otherwise the Falcons figure to have the credible outline of a defense with a defensive-minded coaching staff entering the picture, with the draft expected to greatly boost the team’s ceiling.

The questions still outweigh the answers for the 2024 Falcons at this point—will the defense be more than the sum of its parts? Will Kirk Cousins be totally healthy and play at his 2023 level? Will the Falcons be improved enough to overcome what looks like a tougher schedule?—and that’s going to be the reality for Atlanta until they can prove their improvement on the field, if indeed they can. But the team’s multi-year habit of ensuring the roster has some kind of answer for every position will continue, because Fontenot and this front office need it to in order to feel good about their draft approach and their ability to not force a pick lest the season fall apart.

DISCLAIMER: The statements and opinions regarding players and/or potential future players in the article below are those of the AtlantaFalcons.com editorial staff and are not of the Atlanta Falcons' football personnel unless noted in a direct quote.

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The 2024 NFL Draft is two weeks away. Teams are solidifying their boards. But trades can happen at any point. Nothing is truly set in stone, as the April 25-27 deadline looms in Detroit.

As it stands, the Atlanta Falcons have one first-round pick with No. 8 overall.

That brings up the latest Question of the Week: If you are the Falcons general manager, what would you do: trade up, trade down or stay put? The Falcons editorial staff of Tori McElhaney, Terrin Waack and Amna Subhan answer.

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McELHANEY: The closer we get to the draft, the more I think the Falcons should trade down for two reasons.

1. Between the edge rushers of Dallas Turner, Jared Verse, Laiatu Latu and Chop Robinson and the cornerbacks of Terrion Arnold, Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean, the Falcons have really solid opportunity to find premium defensive selections wherever they're selecting.

2. By trading down they're very likely to receive a future first-round pick, which would go a long way in finding a successor to Kirk Cousins. This is an important thought not because you necessarily need said successor on the roster in 2024. You don't have to worry too much about the prospect this offseason, seeing as you just acquired Cousins and brought back Taylor Heinicke for his final season of a two-year deal. However, it is important -- vitally so -- to be thinking two to four years down the road at the quarterback position. If you have a second-, first-round pick in 2025? There's no doubt you could package a duo of picks to move up high enough to draft one of the best -- if not the best -- quarterback in 2025, while also reserving the right to sit him behind Cousins for a year or even two. (See Patrick Mahomes and Jordan Love examples).

Is this playing the 2024 NFL Draft safe? Probably. But as time goes on, the more it makes sense... in my head at least.

WAACK: Remain at No. 8.

Had the Falcons not acquired their QB1 through free agency with Kirk Cousins, then I would have been pushing for the trade-up option to guarantee one of the top quarterback prospects. But alas, the Falcons signed Cousins to a four-year deal, meaning he is the immediate plug-and-play name under center for the near future. For that reason, I don't see any reason to force the matter.

I also personally adopt the mentality that a team should never trade down, going off the notion the best players are at the top of the draft board. Why fall back and lower standards? The risk of missing out on better talent is not worth it.

So, that leaves me no choice but to stay at No. 8. There will still be good options here, regardless of whether the Falcons' actual general manager – Terry Fontenot – chooses to go offense or defense. Just about every need can still be met here. Including a backup quarterback.

Besides, the No. 8 spot has led the Falcons to success in recent years with wide receiver Drake London and running back Bijan Robinson. Third time doesn't even have to be the charm when the previous two outcomes worked out just fine.

SUBHAN: If I'm Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot, I'd be far more cultured in coffee and also be heavily considering trading down in the upcoming NFL Draft.

The Falcons are in a comfortable spot after securing offensive needs at quarterback and wide receiver in free agency. The likely pathway for Atlanta is to draft a defensive player at No. 8 overall. If you're well-versed in national mock drafts -- my weekly roundups are a great start -- you'll notice the top five is very quarterback-focused. If you zoom out a little more, most mocks don't have a defensive player taken until the Falcons' No. 8 selection.

That projection provides the Falcons with a little breathing room. They could make a trade with a team looking to move up like the Las Vegas Raiders or a team with multiple first-round picks like the Minnesota Vikings.

The two names paired with the Falcons' first-round pick most often heading into the draft are Dallas Turner from Alabama and Jared Verse out of Florida State. It's possible either of those two names would still be available at Nos. 11 or 13. If not, Laiatu Latu of UCLA is a formidable option as the third rusher on several draft boards. Then, the Falcons could also potentially get another first-round pickup or an additional second-rounder to provide extra depth for a team on the hunt to win now.

At a site just north of Town at Trilith and Trilith Studios, construction has officially kicked off on a 200-acre project expected to more firmly establish Atlanta as a powerhouse among national and international soccer communities.

The U.S. Soccer Federation broke ground during a Monday ceremony on its first National Training Center and Headquarters, christening the facility the “Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center” in honor of the Atlanta United and Falcons owner who contributed $50 million to the project last year. U.S. Soccer’s current home is in Chicago.

Project leaders say the Gensler-designed complex will create more than 400 new jobs and bring $200 million in investment to Fayette County, providing a centralized hub for U.S. Soccer’s players, coaches, and referees for training and performance.

Specifically the training center’s plans call for more than a dozen soccer fields and roughly 100,000 square feet of indoor courts for all 27 of U.S. Soccer’s National Teams, including Senior Women’s and Men’s, Youth, and Extended National Teams.

Elsewhere will be 200,000 square feet of facilities focused on boosting performance, plus meeting rooms, headquarters space, and locker rooms for all U.S. Soccer employees.

U.S. Soccer Federation/atlutd.com

U.S. Soccer and Atlanta-based Coca-Cola entered a long-term agreement in July to help grow the country's soccer ecosystem at every level, and Atlanta emerged as the sole finalist for the soccer training headquarters in September.

The region’s diversity and year-round climate conducive to soccer programming were cited as perks, as was Fayette County’s proximity to the world’s busiest airport and downtown Atlanta. U.S. Soccer officials also pointed to nearby Town at Trilith—the master-planned, mixed-use community—as another bonus of the location. Ditto for TV/film hub Trilith Studios, one of the country's largest.

Part of the contribution from Blank and his Family Foundation will be specifically used to build facilities for the federation’s nine Extended National Teams, with an emphasis on supporting the Cerebral Palsy, Deaf, and Power (or wheelchair) Soccer National Teams.

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The headquarters and training facilities are scheduled to open sometime in 2026, prior to Atlanta's full month of FIFA World Cup matches.

In the gallery above, find a preview of what’s in the pipeline south of the city.

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