 What's up everybody? I am Scott Bayer, Atlanta Falcons.com digital managing editor and across from me head coach Arthur Smith Who's sitting down for the very first time ever in our brand-new? Ticketmaster studios and you have hired a defensive coordinator in Ryan Nielsen since then What really sold you on him during the interview process and why was he the right fit for this team? Yeah, we had a very long and thorough process. It was great We got to talk to a lot of different candidates and a lot of really good candidates and You know for us it's all about fit right there's other great coaches in this league and guys go with other teams But Ryan fit us fit our culture and really it was his vision and how he wanted to implement that going forward and You know you can get a lot into schemes There's a lot of talks and a lot of people when they get into these interviews They give you these grand plan grand plans, and they really don't have a great implementation you know to follow that up and a Very impressed with Ryan, you know talked to him, you know few times as we as we were going through this and He's hit the ground running and you know there's some things we want to do And it's not necessarily gonna be copy and print from what they did in New Orleans. I think that's the key I would hope you know if you've seen what we've done here certainly go back to offensively We don't look the same Offensively that we did in 19 and 20 in Tennessee and we don't we didn't look the same last year as we did in 21 Here, you know playing our strengths and whatnot. So very excited about Ryan Love his background. He's another big-picture thinker kind of as a former defensive lineman Love his vision that you know to develop players and really schematically about where where this is going How we want to defend certain things first second down kind of the trends going around the league and you And Ryan wasn't the only big-name defensive coach that you added You also added somebody that you have a long history with Jerry Gray who's been in DC at a couple different spots I think he's been coaching about as long as you've been alive. Maybe why was it important to add him to the staff? Well, it's about fit and chemistry and mix and you want to have it You know a diverse group of opinions to guys with different backgrounds, and you don't want to want to be stale You know you have your your non-negotiables and things that you really value You know your culture and the way you style you want to play but you have to be willing to adapt to see the trends and certainly with Jerry You know so it's always last with Jerry from Tennessee. He's he's certainly changed and adapted. It's been in Minnesota been in Green Bay You know had to face a lot of really good quarterbacks and being in the NFC north Different variations of coverages things. He's learned along the way Really fits into our culture. We're really excited to have Jerry here to heal. He'll be overseeing the back end You've been really busy obviously hiring a lot of these new coaches But there's but there's no break you're getting ready to head off to the NFL scouting combine You got free agency coming up. Is this a really exciting time of the off-season for you as you look to upgrade this roster? Absolutely, you know, it's certainly it's got a different field than we've had the first two years You get here you're new on the job. There's a lot of things going on and you know some of the obstacles that You're trying to work through in terms of roster building and yeah when we do it's Obviously, it's not breaking news anybody. We do have a lot of cap space and we're excited You know about our plan going into free agency and certainly with this class. We need another good draft class as well and this is a good And an important part of the process as you get to Indianapolis, you know, you got everybody in there these interviews really looking forward to those and Listen to our scouts these guys have been working on this class for several years and it's important It's and you've said several times that it's not just about finding the best 53 It's about finding the right guys How important is culture fit when you're looking at signing new free agents or adding new pieces to your next draft class? Yeah, it's it's really important to us The easiest thing is to evaluate you well this guy can run You can you see all that stuff on tape like oh the guy's big you can run You know the minimum job requirements at certain positions. Yeah, but it's about you know the mental makeup What they're about their habits all these things you're you're digging into and and getting those guys and again you There's gonna be a lot of guys here that we want to coach that we'll never get the opportunity You know some of it the way it falls in the draft some of it's luck and then you know the order where you select it But I think our staff has done a really good job You know our first two years getting the character right You know and that that gets thrown out It's a big term, but it's really about the mental makeup their habits things we're looking for With these guys and you know growth potential and development here comes some quarterback questions Desmond Ritter How do you think he did over his? Four starts to wrap up 2022. Well, I think does in the four game sample size Improved a lot and I think the other things that I thought he did well He didn't repeat a lot of the same mistakes, you know, there's a lot of things that go on You know playing late in the season like that going on the road I thought he did a nice job handling those critical downs third down fourth down Getting the situational football two minute Certainly week after week improved a lot and there's a lot of improvement he made from the time he got here We were excited to work with him. So I do think does his future is bright Is he your starting quarterback in 2023? We're not damon any right now. Yeah, there's a lot of things that can happen You know very very Excited about Des no different than we're excited about Tyler out here and Drake London and the improvements They've made and guys that are currently in our roster You know as always all options on the table anything we can do to improve this team to help us win and ultimately the one championships That's what that's what we look when you look back at this last draft class You got some big-time contributions from Drake from Troy all the way down the line Stacking draft classes is always key when it comes to having good roster depth What what do you think that you got from this most recent group? And are you really excited to see guys like Drake guys like Troy continue to to Progress throughout their yeah, absolutely You know and they that's the hardest thing about this this league and it's a consistency It's about any industry life is to is to improve and year after year We've seen a lot of guys they come out strong as a rookie and then you never hear from again Right here for guys that people may consider a bus for the first two years and then it clicks for them And so there's a fine line in there as you're developing and guys as you're trying to push them guys That were even part of that 21 class or guys that maybe you're on the roster here before guys. We've gotten Through college free agency at post draft or guys. We put on one-year deals that You know that was the only way we could sign them and you know We hope to get them get them back and improve everybody But certainly you were excited about the way You know last year's draft class was rookies as they finished You know I thought certainly thought Drake and Tyler play their best football down the stretch I thought Troy did as well Aka all these guys, but the hardest thing for them will be they'll be in the whole new class coming in When you're adding free agents as well as that competition is real Players and coaches and that's that's a beauty of this league when you step in there You've got to prove it every year and so that'll be our challenge is to improve And you know when more football games and we want to be playing You know late January and early February Arthur Smith Thank you so much for stopping by ticketmaster studios and we will talk to you again really soon. I appreciate it Scott. Thank you