"Any questions?"
Sitting at a table toward the back of the room, Zach Harrison rose his hand. The third-year defensive lineman didn't have to raise it high to be seen. He is a 6-foot-5 after all.
The moderator lifted his chin in a go-ahead motion.
With a quick glance at the notebook in his lap, Harrison admitted he had a few. Slight chuckles peppered the room, supportive in tone rather than judging. So, Harrison proceeded. After exhausting the questions jotted down, Harrison's curiosity was quelled.
"The outside world looks at an NFL player and thinks that they have everything, right?" Atlanta Falcons player engagement specialist Lovie Tabron said. "But there are so many things they're still figuring out. They need people to treat them as a person, as a human, as a learner. This provided the opportunity for them to get that from people who have walked through paths they haven't navigated."
The Falcons' 2025 Pro Summit, which is presented by Airbnb and Truist, was a two-day event in Atlanta dedicated to "Providing Relationship Opportunities" to past and present players that will benefit their professional lives apart from football. It consisted of a variety of informational sessions primarily held at the University of Georgia's Terry Executive Education Center. There were additional networking socials each night at Ponce City Market.
Twenty players attended the first-ever Pro Summit in Atlanta. There were current Falcons who stepped away from their ongoing offseason program to be present, such as veterans Kaden Elliss, Lamar Jackson and Clark Phillips III or rookies Jack Nelson, Nathan Carter and Joshua Gray. There were also former Falcons from previous years who are either currently unsigned or retired from the league. Among such players were James Smith-Williams (2024), Jared Pinkney (2022) and Lawrence Sidbury (2015).
The overall idea of the Pro Summit was conceived by Falcons director of player development Fernando Velasco in 2023, a year after he joined the organization. As a former NFL player himself, he often thought about how to better prepare those he now assists on a day-to-day basis with the inevitable transition out of the league. He learned first-hand how difficult that change can be in 2016, when he was signed and released for the final time in his nine-year career.
"It creates a lot of anxiety," Velasco said. "When you talk about these guys, they've been playing the game of football all their life. To reach that mountain top, sometimes you question and ask yourself, 'Is this all I'm capable of doing?' Coming to something like this and having people speak to you on your level, that lets you think of yourself out of the game."
Friday was a shorter evening with only an "Etiquette & Networking 101" session before a social gathering that introduced the purpose of the Pro Summit. Saturday was an all-day endeavor with 11 informational sessions broken up by meals and short breaks. There was another networking social, this time to celebrate the event's conclusion.
The sessions' topics varied from insurance to entrepreneurship, wealth management to leadership consulting and real estate to risk management. Each talk featured a speaker with expertise in the area.
"When I see these guys, they spent elementary school years, middle school years, high school years, college years and pro years focusing on one thing: football," said Mark Jennings, the real-estate panelist with 40 years of experience. "They're not supposed to know what I know about real estate. There's no time in there to learn about real estate. There's nobody in their world that's teaching them about real estate. Just like there's nobody in my world that's teaching me plays of football. So, to me, it's just an easy fit to have these interested people and break off a little knowledge. It costs me nothing, and I gain the relationship from it. It's all positive."
Gathering panelists who understood the immense social platforms and financial potential available to the players was paramount to the summit's success. It allowed them to speak directly to the players' unique situations and the benefits that affords them. Basically, panelists kept it real with the players.
For example, one used flying an airplane as an analogy for opening a business. While everyday folks may start on the runway, the players will already begin their ascent 10,000 feet in the air. They're not at full altitude yet, but they're closer from the start.
"I think that lays a framework for them to even be able to hear anything that they're saying," Tabron said. "Like don't speak to what you think of me and don't speak to below me; speak to me where I am. Then, they can benefit from what you're saying."
It was evident that approach helped, too. Harrison wasn't the only one to ask questions. Multiple players spoke up throughout the sessions, picking and choosing topics where their interests aligned. It really was an interactive experience.
And even the way players spoke demonstrated their comfort with not only the panelists but also their peers. This sense of ease was just as, if not more, important for productivity than any of the actual lessons.
"The questions we would ask compared to the questions of someone who's walking out on the street right now and maybe working a 9-to-5 job are going to be different," Elliss said. "We have an ability to enter markets pretty easily with the capital that we have. So, getting to ask really honest questions, like one of my teammates asked, 'How do you know you're not being taken advantage of?' It's easier to ask a question when it pertains to everybody else in the room rather than soloing yourself out."
The summit was a safe space, regardless of a person's level of experience entering the sessions. Some players already dabble in the investment world. Others have held internships or full-time jobs. Many are still figuring out what best fits them.
All of the above are OK.
"I would just say be smart," Harrison said. "Understand that yes, we're blessed in one position where we do make a lot of money, but it's not forever. Instead of buying what you want right now, set yourself up to where later in life you can buy whatever you want because you played your cards right in the beginning."
Transitioning to life after football can be difficult. No one ever claimed and predicted otherwise. It doesn't, however, have to be scary.
The point of the Pro Summit is to help ease or manage that transition when it comes, especially for those in a position where that outcome looms as a possibility whether they like it or not. Regardless of how talented a player may be, retirement is a reality for everyone.
"It's just being informed," Smith-Williams said. "Like with any decision you make, you gather as much information as possible. That's on the football side. That's the real-world side. What are realistic job salaries like? I haven't worked a full-time job outside of football since ever. So, it's just all the types of exposure to help make the best decision possible."
That's all Tabron or Velasco could ever want: to set a player up for success the best they can, both on and off the field.
Because one day, when that player does leave the Falcons facility for the very last time, he will then be ready to take on whatever the future might hold. No more questions. Or at least none that will ever go unanswered.
"They invest so much into the game," Velasco said. "The 40-, 50-, 60-year-old version of themselves would be happy that at this age they took some time out to invest in themselves."
