FLOWERY BRANCH — The Falcons are set to face Tampa Bay in their regular-season finale Sunday and wrap up their fifth consecutive losing season.
The Falcons went into rebuilding mode after firing Dan Quinn and Thomas Dimitroff five games into the 2020 season.
The new regime, general manager Terry Fontenot and coach Arthur Smith, were hired in January 2021. They have studied several other successful rebuilding situations and have modeled some of their moves after Seattle, where coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider took over in the Pacific Northwest in 2010.
Also, more recently, they have discovered an appreciation for the job that coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch have done in restoring the 49ers into a superpower.
Both turnarounds in Seattle and San Francisco have included a pounding rushing attack and a stout defense. The Seahawks landed quarterback Russell Wilson in the third round (75th) of the 2013 draft. The 49ers tried to land a franchise quarterback with the third pick of the 2021 draft in Trey Lance, but that hasn’t worked out thus far.
But the 49ers’ roster is so deep that they are pounding folks with rookie Brock Purdy, a seventh-round pick, playing quarterback.
The Falcons have a chance to finish 7-10 for a second consecutive season under the new regime. It has been noted that the Seahawks were 7-9 in the first two years of the Carroll-Schneider regime as they laid the foundation for an eventual Super Bowl-winning team.
While some are clamoring for the Falcons to lose the regular-season finale to improve their draft status, Smith has remained steadfast they are playing to win.
Desmond Ridder will start his fourth game for the Falcons at quarterback. He was selected in the third round of the 2022 draft. The Falcons essentially are trying to find out if they found their Wilson.
“When you are building, you are going through a transition,” Falcons coach Arthur Smith said. “You’re trying to get the right (fit for) whatever your schemes are. That’s what makes this game interesting. ... if you can hit on the right people to bring into play that style.”
Seattle signed Matt Flynn, who had been Aaron Rodgers’ backup in Green Bay for four seasons, to a three-year, $20.5 million deal, with $9 million guaranteed, to be their quarterback. Flynn competed with 2011 starter Tarvaris Jackson and Wilson for the starting job. Wilson won the job and Flynn later was traded to the Raiders.
“It does take a little bit of luck,” Smith admitted. “Maybe where your draft pick was and where you get to take somebody. Or somebody didn’t take (a player) in front of you, that can help you build, too.”
By Year 3 in Seattle, the defense was built out with the likes of cornerback Richard Sherman (fifth round, 2011 draft), linebacker Bobby Wagner (second round, 2012) and safety Kam Chancellor (fifth round, 2010) and Wilson was a rookie quarterback.
Seattle went 11-5 and lost to the Falcons in the divisional round. The next year they pummeled Peyton Manning and the Broncos in the Super Bowl.
“There was a foundation, a style, and it came through,” Quinn said. “You saw them take off.”
The 49ers had some draft misses, which included former Alabama linebacker Rueben Foster (first round, 2017) and wide receiver Jalen Hurd (third round, 2019), but they hit big on tight end George Kittle (fifth round, 2017) and linebacker Fred Warner (third round, 2018).
The 49ers hit home runs in 2019 with the drafting of Nick Bosa (first round) and wide receiver/running back Deebo Samuel (second round).
“Same thing, with Kyle as they went through their transition, those first two years and you saw then (that) their identity (came through),” Smith said. “Then they added some other pieces. If you go back to that 2019 draft. That really helped as well, but they had laid a really good foundation. You could see it when you played them.”
Smith was with the Titans when they played the 49ers in Shanahan’s first season. The 49ers beat the Titans 25-23 on Dec. 17, 2017.
“We went out there right after they made the (mid-season) trade (for) Jimmy Garoppolo,” Smith said. “You could see it. There was a style they played with. It was obvious.”
The new Falcons regime has been methodical with its approach to rebuilding the team without much money to spend. The team traded Julio Jones and kept quarterback Matt Ryan for a year. It tried to sign Deshaun Watson, but couldn’t match the $230 million guaranteed contract that Cleveland bestowed upon the Gainesville native and former Falcons’ ball boy.
“Things that happen, guys that covered this game a long time, certainly the last two years, there are some things that are in your control and somethings are out of your control,” Smith said. “Are you able to adapt? I think we have. Certainly don’t claim that we’re perfect in any (way). But (I’m) pleased.
The Falcons parted ways with former mainstays such as safety Keanu Neal, safety Damontae Kazee and Dante Fowler and traded linebacker Deion Jones this season.
“No matter what your situation is, you know what you signed up for and the expectations,” Smith said. “We’ve tried to be consistent. We’ve adapted when we had to, I think that’s important. Circumstances can change just like that (snaps his finger).”
They’ve had two drafts and signed a lot of veteran players on make-good deals to fill out the roster.
With the Ryan move, the Falcons elected to take an unprecedented amount of dead salary-cap space hit of more than $88 million.
Some consider it a coaching miracle that the Falcons were in the playoff race until the 16th game of the season last season and 15th game this season.
Now, with some developing young players, another draft class and barrels of money for free agency, the Falcons will have a chance to get things turned around.
The new administration will be released from the NFL’s salary-cap jail as it will have nearly $70 million under the projected $232 million salary cap.
“Certainly, I’m excited about that,” Smith said.
The Falcons know their situation is not identical to the Seahawks or the 49ers.
“It’s been a very unique situation to say the least,” Smith said. “You do learn a lot that first year as you really transition, some of the hand you’re dealt. What you can add and what you can’t. Trying to change a climate, a culture.”
Flipping out the roster was a priority.
“I remember saying there is going to be a lot of roster turnover (last year),” Smith said. “It didn’t mean we had a lot of money to spend, it just meant the nature of where we were. This is a completely different team, too.”
There was more transition in 2022 with only two starters left from the Super Bowl 51 team in Jake Matthews and Grady Jarrett.
“This year it’s a lot younger team,” Smith said. “We made kind of the second transition. I think they are seeing more of the foundation, guys after two years. There will be a lot of things that open up that we haven’t had in the offseason. Things that we have to strategically plan ahead, which we have, it would certainly be different going into this year than any other offseason that we’ve had.”
Adding the right free agents along the defensive line and getting a veteran quarterback to help mentor Ridder will be key.
“We feel the foundation is strong, the habits, a lot of the young guys that we invested in, I think all of this stuff has been positive,” Smith said.
One thing Smith is not going to do is apologize for winning seven games last season and six so far this season.
“When you set expectations and you put everything you got to try to win a division,” Smith said. “You guys have, there are multiple reasons why we came up short in a few games.
“The reality of our situation now is that we’ve got one game left, and we want to finish this right. I’ll never apologize for setting. ... I told you that we’re trying to win, and we certainly have done that this year. Obviously, we came up a few (games) short to keep playing.”
After the coming offseason and another draft, the Falcons should be poised to end their playoff drought.
Smith said he was pretty straightforward with owner Arthur Blank when he was hired.
“Certain things I’ve said, we’ve had to pivot (from) for different reasons, which I think you should in any smart organization,” Smith said. “But we have a vision. Going about it the long hard way. Whatever obstacles we’ve had, we tried to take advantage of it. There is very good direct communications.”
The Falcons like the young talent they’ve amassed in tight end Kyle Pitts, wide receiver Drake London, running back Tyler Allgeier, inside linebacker Troy Andersen and outside linebacker Arnold Ebiketie.
Veterans such as cornerback Isaiah Oliver, inside linebacker Rashaan Evans and outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter have performed well.
“There are a lot of things we feel good about,” Smith said. “Some of our younger players, there are some other players that we feel have earned another contract. Those are all of the decisions that you’ll continue to see as we get close to the new league year when this season wraps up.”
Some players will not return.
“Rebuild or transition, there is going to be turnover every year,” Smith said. “That’s just the nature of this business.”
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Atlanta Falcons 2022 schedule
Sept. 11 Saints 27, Falcons 26
Sept. 18 Rams 31, Falcons 27
Sept. 25 Falcons 27, Seahawks 23
Oct. 2 Falcons 23, Browns 20
Oct. 9 Buccaneers 21, Falcons 15
Oct. 16 Falcons 28, 49ers 14
Oct. 23 Bengals 35, Falcons 17
Oct. 30 Falcons 37, Panthers 34 OT
Nov. 6 Chargers 20, Falcons 17
Nov. 10 Panthers 25, Falcons 15
Nov. 20 Falcons 27, Bears 24
Nov. 27 Commanders 19, Falcons 13
Dec. 4 Steelers 19, Falcons 16
BYE WEEK
Dec. 18 Saints 21, Falcons 18
Dec. 24 Ravens 17, Falcons 9
Jan. 1 Falcons 20, Cardinals 19
Jan. 8 vs. Tampa Bay, 1 p.m.
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