FLOWERY BRANCH – While Kyle Smith, the Falcons’ vice president of player personnel, was with Washington, he had a front-row seat to three pretty high-profile quarterback transitions.
He was a scout when Washington traded a bushel of picks to move up and select Robert Griffin second overall in the 2012 draft. They later drafted Kirk Cousins in the fourth round.
Neither were the long-term answer, and Washington traded for Alex Smith in January 2018.
Smith was the director of college personnel when owner Daniel Snyder pulled up on his yacht and selected Dwayne Haskins against the personnel department’s wishes.
As general manager’s Terry Fontenot’s top lieutenant, Smith, the son of former NFL executive A.J. Smith, was instrumental in the Falcons’ decision to move on from quarterback Matt Ryan, sign Marcus Mariota and draft Desmond Ridder in the third round this year.
“I think it’s no secret that quarterback is the most important position for any team,” Smith said Thursday. “You have to have the right guy.”
Mariota, who was the No. 2 overall pick by the Titans in 2015, has been a reserve the past two seasons with the Raiders. Ridder guided Cincinnati to a 44-5 record over his collegiate career.
“We feel like we have two guys that are made of the right stuff, and another one in Feleipe (Franks) that has a lot of physical traits,” Smith said. “We’re working him at another position (tight end) as well, but it’s an extremely important position (at quarterback). We’re excited about where we’re at right now.”
The Falcons contend they want players with the right “ethos” and “character” traits, but were in the Deshaun Watson derby until Cleveland outbid the field. The Falcons then traded Ryan, perhaps the greatest quarterback in Falcons history, to the Colts for a third-round draft pick.
“Obviously, there were some hard decisions that we made in the offseason,” Smith said. “It’s just the continued process of bringing in the right guys and the guys that – makeup and character, that’s what it’s about.”
The Ryan move was key to the Falcons’ future and will open between $131 million to $136 million in salary-cap space next offseason.
“Coming in here, we knew it would be a challenge, and that’s the exciting part of it,” Smith said. “You know, everything starts and ends with makeup. Coach Arthur (Smith) and Terry have talked about that before. That’s what we’re about.”
The Falcons’ front office couldn’t fix all of the team’s issues in two offseasons. They still have to build out the offensive and defensive lines.
“Where I’ve been, in Washington, our defensive line was a pretty good defense line,” Smith said. “There was a lot of resources put into that. A lot of first-round picks, if you will.”
The Falcons will utilize the draft, pro personnel, player development and eventually free agency to address their lines.
“But I think on both sides of the ball, again, there’s a lot … again, there’s no one way to do it,” Smith said. “There’s no one right way. It’s about utilizing your resources.”
The Falcons insist it’s about picking the right players.
“You can sit there and spend first- and second-round picks on offensive linemen, but if you miss on them, that won’t do any good,” Smith said. “It’s about finding the right guy, and you can do it a lot of different ways. You’ve seen other teams do it a lot of ways. I can’t sit here and say, ‘Hey, I believe in first-round picks for offensive line, defensive line.’ I think you can find them in a lot of different ways.”
The Falcons have looked at how other teams have rebuilt.
“We looked at a lot of different scenarios, but really wanted to come in first and evaluate our team where we were at,” Smith said. “Who’s on the team? What are the players that we have? What’s the cap situation? How much is that affecting you moving forward?”
The players then had to fit the new system.
“As you look around the league, there’s a lot of different ways to do it,” Smith said. “There’s a lot of different ways to win. There’s a lot of different ways to build.”
After trading Julio Jones in 2021, losing Calvin Ridley to an indefinite suspension for gambling on NFL games and Russell Gage in free agency in 2022, the Falcons had to retool the wide receiver position.
The Falcons drafted former USC wide receiver Drake London with the eighth overall pick and traded for wide receiver Bryan Edwards. They also signed a slew of veterans in Auden Tate, KhaDarel Hodge, Damiere Byrd and Geronimo Allison.
“Wide receiver, there’s different skill sets,” Smith said. “You’ve got big guys, long guys, twitchy guys, quick guys, inside guys and outside guys. You want to have a good mix.”
The Falcons wanted receivers who can run after the catch and bigger receivers who could play physical.
“It’s not going to be clean in this league,” Smith said. “(That’s) very rare. The separation in college, when you’re watching a player could have three yards of separation. In the league, it’s not that way.”
The Falcons wanted receivers who could catch contested balls.
“Physical guys, tough guys (who) can play between the numbers, inside the hashes and make the tough contested catches,” Smith said. “Third-and-6 is third and-6. I mean it’s going to be tight quarters. You’re going to have to make plays. Bigger, longer guys can do that, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want the speed and the twitchy and the quick (receivers).”
The Falcons will closely monitor the cuts around the league when teams trim to their 53-man rosters.
“That’s the big part of the pro department at this point,” Smith said. “That’s what we’re doing now. We’re separating the teams. Divvying up the teams amongst our pro staff, and some of our college guys will help out as well.”
The Falcons are looking at players on the bubble who have a chance to get cut.
“We’ll watch the (exhibition games),” Smith said. “We’ll evaluate those guys, and then if there’s any opportunities for us to upgrade our roster, we’ll do that.”
Smith said the personnel department plans to deploy all avenues to improve the team’s roster.
“So, there’s a lot of ways to do it,” Smith said. “We believe in our process and what we’re going to do and how we’re going to build this thing. We’re excited to move forward with it.”
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