4 Atlanta Falcons dealing with high expectations in 2023 season

1. Arthur Smith

With the way that Terry Fontenot has navigated Atlanta's cap space and locked up his stars while shedding bad contracts, it would take something drastic to endanger the GM's job moving forward. If things were to go in the wrong direction this season it would be Arthur Smith that deals with a lot of the blame if the Falcons don't take the expected step forward.

There are two ways to look at Smith's tenure the first is that the head coach has built a strong locker room while winning seven games each of the past two seasons without a lot of talent. The pessimistic outlook would say Smith has made a lot of late-game mistakes that hurt the Falcons in winnable games.

Regardless of your outlook on Smith it is clear from the comments made this off-season and the fact that this is year three it is time to win. Winning less than 9-11 games is more than enough reason to question Smith's job and with how long Marcus Mariota was left in as a starter last season if Ridder isn't the expected answer Arthur will receiver heat for this as well.

Smith has proven he can build an elite rushing attack and get the most out of a below-average roster not it is time to prove he can do what's most important, win.