Report: Former Falcons HC Arthur Smith Drawing ‘Serious Interest’ from 7+ Teams as OC

Tyler Conway@@jtylerconwayFeatured Columnist IVJanuary 23, 2024

Todd Kirkland/Getty Images

Former Atlanta Falcons coach Arthur Smith is reportedly drawing interest from several teams for their offensive coordinator vacancy.

Diana Russini of The Athletic reported at least seven teams have contacted Smith about joining their offensive staff. The Falcons fired Smith earlier this month after a third consecutive losing season.

Smith previously spent a decade on the Tennessee Titans’ coaching staff, landing the Falcons job after a two-year stint as offensive coordinator in 2019 and 2020. The Titans ranked third in the NFL in yards and fourth in scoring during Smith’s final year as offensive coordinator, thanks in large part to Derrick Henry’s 2,000-yard rushing season.

The Falcons hoped Smith would revamp their offense. Instead, he presided over one of the NFL’s worst units for three straight years and frustrated fans with confusing usage of rising young skill-position players.

Atlanta ranked in the bottom half of the NFL in yardage throughout Smith’s tenure and never ranked better than 15th in scoring. Promising young players like Drake London and Kyle Pitts were underutilized, and rookie running back Bijan Robinson barely out-carried an ineffective Tyler Allgeier this season.

Fantasy football managers and Falcons fans bonded over their frustration at Smith’s odd strategies, which didn’t even translate to winning football. Atlanta finished 7-10 three straight seasons and closed out Smith’s tenure with four losses in its last five games.

It’s hard to look at Smith’s run in Atlanta and see how teams could be interested in putting him in charge of their offense. That said, perhaps Smith is the type of coach who is better in a coordinator position than he is running the entire show. The Titans’ offense wasn’t particularly inventive under Smith—hand the ball to Derrick Henry, repeat, profit—but it was effective.