Atlanta Falcons: Arthur Smith wants one thing in his quarterback

The Atlanta Falcons made a huge move on Monday by trading away their 14-year tenured, franchise quarterback in Matt Ryan. They traded him for very minimal capital in return, that being a third-round pick, but he was traded for two reasons.

The first reason was to dump his contract for this year and next year. It helps clear the books for Atlanta going into the next offseason, but it did leave behind a huge dead cap hit.

Arthur Smith wants one specific ability for the Falcons at quarterback

Arthur Smith took over as the Falcons head coach last offseason, after numerous seasons as the Tennessee Titan’s offensive coordinator.

In Tennessee, he was able to turn around the career of Ryan Tannehill after he struggled to do much in Miami. In college, Tannehill was a wide receiver for Texas A&M, so you know he is extremely talented as a runner, and that is exactly what Smith wants to see in his quarterback.

There is no fooling anyone, Matt Ryan was not the most mobile of quarterbacks, he was purely a pocket passer, and it seems obvious that Arthur Smith felt hindered by that fact, so, he preferred to get rid of Ryan so that he can go find himself a mobile quarterback.

He found that in Marcus Mariota, who will open up a lot of the Falcons offense at the expense of having consistency in the passing game.

You can expect to see a lot of new things in the Falcons offense like RPOs and read-option plays.

It certainly is exciting as the last time Atlanta had a quarterback with exceptional athletic ability was with Michael Vick.

Falcons fans will get to see a very new look Falcons offense, gone are the days of having a pocket passer. Arthur Smith knows what he wants out of his quarterback.