The Falcons technical team met quickly, but the front office always thought it would take a little longer to get together. Today, we got our first new official hire under Terry Fontenot, and it’s an experienced addition to this Falcons front office.
Atlanta has just announced the addition of Kyle Smith as its new vice president of player staff. Smith was dismissed by Washington, but supposedly had that role in line with the Falcons, but he spent 11 years in a college scout role with his old team before taking over as vice president of players’ team in 2020. In that role, he was responsible for college and professional staff, according to the Falcons announcement, and chaired a successful recruiting class that brought Chase Young, the talented Antonio Gibson back and security guard Kamren Curl to Washington. In recent years, his involvement with the draft was still significant and Washington brought in intriguing talents, including pass rusher Montez Sweat, wide receiver Terry McLaurin, linebacker Cole Holcomb and striker Daron Payne. If he played an important role in running some of these recent recruiting classes, it was a good hire.
Smith is the expected hired with a focus on university scouting that we all think Fontenot would bring on board – although he is probably not the last – since Fontenot’s own rich origin comes mainly from the professional side of the house. Presumably, Smith will assist Fontenot in drawing up a preliminary plan and will act as an experienced right-hand man for the new Falcons general manager, and will chair a personnel department that is likely to undergo further changes. College scouting director Anthony Robinson – who was interviewed for the position of GM Falcons – and professional personnel director Shepley Heard are still part of the front office at the moment, and Robinson’s involvement in some quality Falcon classes in the past years will have a happy impact this spring, too.
Fontenot had some complimentary words for his new hire:
“Kyle has literally grown up in this business and is obsessed and passionate about the process of building and managing competitive teams.” Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot said. “He is extremely intelligent, detailed and organized, and he couldn’t be more excited to become an Atlanta Falcon.
“We are excited for him to join our team. I would also like to acknowledge and thank our current team, which has shown flexibility and adaptability as we continue to make this transition in our organization. They continued to focus on our goals as a team and we hope to grow together ”.
The “grew up in this business” comment is because Smith is the son of former staff executive AJ Smith, who was assistant director of scouting at the college and then director of professional staff for the Bills during his run for four consecutive Super Bowls. Smith was also the general manager of the Chargers from 2003 to 2012, so Smith is familiar with the personal side of the NFL in his own decade in the league. and because your father did this for decades.
The obvious hope is that Smith will prove to be an impactful addition to a front office that has some limit-related challenges and a mandate to bring in more talent in the years to come. Fontenot is a hiring that is already easy to like, and if Smith’s background in Washington is an indication of what we can expect from future Falcon classes, I hope the Falcons are in good shape.