FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — This Falcons front office has never been in the market of doing things the conventional way.

Since Terry Fontenot took over as general manager in 2021, the Falcons have zagged when everyone else zigged when it comes to draft strategy, particularly in the first round.

And with every pick the Falcons made, conventional wisdom went further out the door, and everyone took notice.

No tight end has ever been taken at No. 4 overall? They go get Kyle Pitts.

"The Falcons had a tough choice here: Invest in the long-term future and draft a quarterback, or go for the gusto in 2021 and give soon-to-be-36-year-old signal-caller Matt Ryan another talented pass-catching weapon," The Ringer’s Danny Kelly wrote in 2021. "They went with the latter."

Drake London wasn't the top-rated wide receiver in his draft class by some draft analyst? Atlanta takes him off the board first.

"London is a big receiver, but he doesn't run that well. This is a team that needed to add more speed. I would have taken Garrett Wilson in this spot. He would have given them more of an immediate impact," CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco wrote in 2022. "London is good. But there were better options."

The Athletic’s Sheil Kapadia: "I'm not there with London.

"This could be one that makes me look foolish down the road, but I would have preferred Jameson Williams or Garrett Wilson here if the Falcons wanted to go wide receiver."

No one would dare take a running back in the top 10; not at their valuation and short expected longevity. The Falcons — along with the Lions and Jahmyr Gibbs and the Eagles and Saquon Barkley — usher in a running back renaissance.

"This is way too high for a back, even if he's a really good player. Backs don't decide Super Bowls. … History isn't kind to this type of move. I don't like it because of position value," Prisco, again in 2023. "Good player, bad position."

The Sporting News’ Vinnie Iyer: "Robinson has great potential as an explosive feature workhorse and was first-round worthy. He will be productive early, but the bottom line is Atlanta isn't a team that could afford to use such high capital on an already good rushing attack."

Then, last year, there's the shock of the draft: Atlanta drafts Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 overall pick after picking up Kirk Cousins in free agency. They double dip, hoping to shore up their future.

The Athletic: "His arm talent is outstanding, and it's hard to bet against his perseverance. At No. 8, though? This feels a reach. Time will tell."

SB Nation: "This is confusing. Love the player, weird fit and spot to take him."

CBS Sports: "Like the player, but don't like the pick."

Bleacher Report: "Taking Penix at No. 8 is awful resource allocation. It's also downright atrocious value."

Everyone questioned it. Few understood the reasoning for it. It went completely against conventional wisdom. And yet, thank goodness they did it, right? If the Falcons reach the postseason in 2025, perhaps that sentence will turn into, 'Thank goodness they did it all.'

And while time will tell, the Falcons' young core seem to be trending where Atlanta wants and needs them to.

In fact, the trio of Robinson, London and Penix made NFL history in the Falcons' season finale last year. In 105 years of the league, no team had ever had a 300-yard passer, a 175-yard receiver and a 150-yard rusher in a single game who were all under 25 years old. This group did so against the Carolina Panthers in January, just their third complete game together.

With all this background, it stands to reason we should expect the relatively unexpected when it comes to the Falcons and the draft. What's interesting is the Falcons actually did what was expected… and then went right back to switching it up.

Drafting Jalon Walker at No. 15? OK. Conventional wisdom. Arguably the best player available at the time who just so happens to play within a position of need. Moving back up into the first round to grab James Pearce Jr., giving up a 2026 first-round pick in the process? Not so much.

What's different about the Falcons in the last two years, though, is they've actually gone with an approach that puts their biggest needs in the brightest spotlight, despite notably not doing so with the Pitts, London and Robinson picks. Still, they've done so in an unconventional way.

Last offseason, the biggest hole the Falcons had to fill was at the quarterback position. They did so for their present (Cousins) and their future (Penix). No, Cousins' story in Atlanta didn't work out, but the intent was there and sound at the time. No one can say the Falcons didn't do what they needed to in order to strengthen a position that had been a game of musical chairs for three seasons in the wake of Matt Ryan's departure.

This offseason, the Falcons addressed their biggest need — pass rush — not once, but twice. They did so aggressively, too.

Like the Penix pick before it, the double-dipping decision to get Walker and Pearce, particularly Pearce, was met with a mixed bag of reactions from national media. But for Fontenot and his staff, as well as head coach Raheem Morris, they continued to use the same words to galvanize their decision: Conviction and belief. The same words Fontenot has used for each pick of Pitts, London, Robinson, Penix and, now, Walker and Pearce.

"At some point you have to look at who the player is and what's he going to be, what are we really getting and is it worth it?" Fontenot said after the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft concluded. "When you have that kind of conviction and belief in the player, then that's when you're willing to do it and we did. We have that kind of belief in our staff.

"It's not just about the actual drafting of players, it's about getting them in the right environment and developing the right way, and we truly believe. So, it's not just believing in the players and the skill sets that we brought in here today, but it's believing in our building. And that's the coaches, that's player performance, that's everyone in this building and believing we're going to surround these guys and make the absolute best of them. So, I think there's a lot of belief and conviction in the players and also what we have here."

Belief and conviction only get you so far, though. It gets you to the point of putting a player on the field. What he does from there, belief and conviction can't touch.

Conventional wisdom will tell you that.

Conventional wisdom will also tell you that you don't draft a tight end at No. 4 overall, or a running back at No. 8, or a quarterback at No. 8 when you already have a 13-year veteran on the roster. Nor does it tell you to use a future first-round pick on a player some have deemed a major question mark.

This Falcons regime has never been one for conventional wisdom, though. So, why expect them to start now?

Truth be told, they've thrown every resource they have at problem areas the last two offseasons. They may have done it unconventionally, yes, but the hope is that it works out, regardless of how they got there.

To this point, individual player performance has been there. The collective team wins have not. With two first-round picks now highlighting the defense, perhaps the scale tips and the 2025 season is the year to find out if the Falcons' unconventional drafting strategy of the last five years has legs to stand on.