It was a new beginning for Falcons owner Arthur Blank, who was on hand for the first day of training camp Thursday.
He was present for the first practice under Arthur Smith, the fifth head coach that he’s hired since purchasing the team.
“The thing I’m excited about has something to do with today, but probably a lot to do with what’s happened since we hired coach Smith and (general manager) Terry Fontenot,” Blank said. “I think all the things we anticipated from their attention to detail, the intellect with which they’re approaching their work, their ability to analyze our existing roster, and both Terry and Arthur have done a very good job in understanding because of the salary-cap situation this year.
“We have a lot of opportunities with vets that ordinarily might not come our way and have fully taken advantage of that, I think, at a variety of positions.”
Smith and Fontenot were hired to replace Dan Quinn and Thomas Dimitroff, who were fired in October, just five games into the season.
In addition to Quinn and Smith, Blank has hired Jim Mora, Bobby Petrino and Mike Smith. Mora, Smith and Quinn all had deep playoff runs, while Petrino quit after 13 games in the season when Michael Vick went to federal prison. Quinn became the second coach in franchise history to take the Falcons to the Super Bowl.
Arthur Smith comes from the Tennessee Titans, where he was the wildly successful offensive coordinator from the past two seasons and reached the AFC title game after the 2019 season.
“Coach Smith has a great mind, and we’re seeing that,” Blank said. “We’re excited about the first day of practice, we’re excited about the beginning of the season, and we’ll take it from there. We feel as good as we can right now.”
Blank then referred to a story about how upset he got as a young owner when the team lost all of its exhibition games. (Former NFL executive) Bobby Beathard had to explain to the new owner the value of those meaningless games and noted that his former Washington Football Teams went on to win Super Bowls after losing all of their exhibition games.
Noticeably absent Thursday was former wide receiver Julio Jones, for reason unbeknown to Blank, requested a trade and was later dealt to the Tennessee Titans. He apparently no longer wanted to be a “Falcon for Life.”
Smith and Fontenot impressed Blank with the way they handled the potentially messy situation.
“I think the coach and the general manager did what they could to have him stay here,” Blank said. “Julio had certain aspirations and wanted to do it someplace else.”
Blank wanted Jones to stay.
“(Trading Jones) was not our original intent,” Blank said. “We have tremendous regard for the player and for the human being as well. He’s given us 10 great years. That’s about half of my ownership. He set all kinds of records.”
But he wasn’t going to force Smith and Fontenot to keep a player who wanted to bolt.
“One thing about football is you want a locker room of players who want to be here,” Blank said. “I was disappointed he felt that way. For whatever reasons, I’m not sure.”
Stunningly, Blank said he never spoke with Jones to find out why he wanted out of town.
“I was unable to speak with him myself, although I tried to,” Blank said. “But he felt the way he felt and was ready to make a change. We have 90 guys out here who want to be here.”
Blank believes he picked another strong coach in Smith. Mora (26-22 in the regular season), Mike Smith (66-46) and Quinn (43-42) all left with records above .500.
“One of the things that impressed me during the interview process, which was a long process,” Blank said. “We went through first-, second-and third-round interviews. He’s very smart, and also I think he’s a very good listener. He’s got a sense of confidence about himself, but also a pretty good sense of humility, too.”
Like Mora, Mike Smith and Quinn, Arthur Smith had never been a head coach before.
“He doesn’t assume he has all the answers,” Blank said. “He knows what he wants the team to look like and play like. He knows exactly the kind of moves he has to make to get there, and he has a clear sense of direction.”
Smith’s work with Tennessee impressed the owner.
“He’s one of the top offensive coordinators the last two years in the NFL, not just in kicking field goals but scoring touchdowns,” Blank said. “In the NFL, you’re going to win some games by field goals, but you’ve got to score touchdowns, too.”
Blank had his criteria for the general manager position, too.
“You want creative thinking,” Blank said. “You want people that are going to push the envelope. You want people that have the same standards as you do. You want people who don’t sleep at night sometimes because we’re not where we should be and trying to figure out how to get a better performance from the team.”
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