Atlanta Falcons: Draft video shows Arthur Smith is playing chess not checkers

A recent video surfaced of the Atlanta Falcons war room on draft night and one thing is very clear – head coach Arthur Smith is playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers.

The video starts just before the 49ers make their pick of Trey Lance and everyone in the Atlanta Falcons draft room cheering. New general manager Terry Fontenot walks up to Smith, shakes his shoulder, and said: “you called it a month ago”.

Why is that interesting? Well, a month ago, no one was linking Trey Lance to the 49ers, he was still considered to be the fourth or fifth quarterback taken in this draft and at that point was actually being linked to the Falcons.

Another curious part of the video is when the Lions call the Falcons just before they submit their pick and want to talk about a potential trade scenario, which Fontenot declines.

Atlanta Falcons were always going to draft Kyle Pitts

The biggest takeaway from this video is that the Atlanta Falcons were always going to draft Kyle Pitts. All the talk about Lance or Justin Fields was nothing more than smoke – if it was ever leaked from the franchise, to begin with.

As we were the first to point out almost two months ago, taking Pitts in the Top 5 would have made him the highest-drafted tight end in NFL history and it did.  However, many didn’t like that pick because too many people have pigeonholed him into a tight end.

The fact is, he is a playmaker and not a very good blocker.

Kyle Pitts will elevate this Atlanta Falcons offense to another level regardless of whether or not Julio Jones comes back in 2021 or is traded post-June 1st to clear cap space.

Arthur Smith really wanted Kyle Pitts and the excitement that he showed when the pick was announced lets you know that he has big plans for Pitts and that they had zeroed in on him a long time ago and as the draft evaluation process went on that they knew he was their guy.

Hopefully, this is the start of a beautiful relationship between head coach and future Hall of Fame player that will result in more than one Lombardi Trophy being brought back to Atlanta.