Falcons coach Mike Smith rounded out his coaching staff Wednesday by hiring Glenn Pires as linebackers coach and retaining Billy Johnson as the assistant strength-and-conditioning coach.

"I'm real excited about having the staff in place," Smith said. "We can have a full staff meeting with the full complement of our coaches here in Flowery Branch."

John Bazemore/STF (ENLARGE)

With his coaching staff complete, Falcons coach Mike Smith can turn his full attention toward the draft.

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Pires spent the past five seasons with the Miami Dolphins and was their assistant linebackers coach last season. He also worked as an assistant with Detroit and Arizona.

Johnson, a former Falcons player, is set to serve his third season as assistant strength and conditioning coach. Before that he worked for 12 years in the team's player programs and player development department.

"One of the most important things that you have to do as a head coach is pick the best staff that you can," Smith said. "I really think we've done that here. I really do."

Smith said he was very pleased to land veteran offensive and defensive line coaches in Paul Boudreau and Ray "Sugar Bear" Hamilton. Both units were coached by rookie NFL position coaches last season.

Boudreau spent three seasons with Smith in Jacksonville from 2003-05. After coaching in the Canadian Football League from 1983-87, Boudreau has been in the NFL with stops in New Orleans, Detroit, New England, Miami, Carolina and St. Louis, in addition to Jacksonville.

After playing nine seasons in the NFL, Hamilton has coached for 16 seasons, with stops in Jacksonville, Cleveland, New England, the New York Jets, the then-Los Angeles Raiders (1993-94) and Tampa Bay.

"Controlling the line of scrimmage is something that we've talked about from day one," Smith said.

The Falcons now have their coaching staff in place before the NFL Scouting Combine, which begins Wednesday in Indianapolis. Smith and his staff have been evaluating the current roster and working piecemeal on free agency.

"This will be our first real exposure as a complete staff to the college draft class that is coming out," Smith said. "We will be able to do a lot of work and have a lot of interaction with the players there in Indianapolis."