Atlanta Falcons fans should be excited about Arthur Smith

The Atlanta Falcons have their man in Arthur Smith.

After what seemed like years, the Atlanta Falcons finally hired their next head coach – former Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith and fans in Atlanta should be excited.

The only other offensive-minded head coach that the Atlanta Falcons have hired since Arthur Blank bought the team two decades ago was Bobby Petrino, hopefully, this time around, no one will make hog calls and leave in the middle of the night.

After the success that Derrick Henry and Ryan Tannehill had under Smith for the last two years, there is plenty of reason to be excited about this hire.

Before Smith took over as the Titans offensive coordinator in 2019, Henry was averaged less than 60 yards per game in the NFL. Over the last two seasons, Henry went from NFL bust to almost 115 yards rushing per game and became just the seventh running back in the history of the game to rush for at least 2,000 yards.

Ryan Tannehill might be even more impressive.

After averaging more than 12 interceptions in his first six seasons, Tannehill has averaged 6.5 interceptions a year as well as more than 25 touchdowns under Smith. He has also seen a gigantic improvement in his completion percentage.

The Atlanta Falcons biggest concern under Arthur Smith will be who he hires.

Coaches spend years putting together their coaching staffs and who they would hire if they ever become a head coach, Smith is no different. He already knows, for the most part, who will join him in Atlanta.

However, his defensive hires will be crucial to his success in Atlanta and will ultimately determine whether he is here long-term or if they are repeating this process in 2023. Former interim defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich is someone that should get a lengthy interview to stick around but no one else on this staff should even get a second look.

While there will be some that take issue with this hire, it is a good one from an initial reaction point of view and hopefully, the Atlanta Falcons can build momentum as they head into 2021 off-season activities.