Arthur Smith says Falcons are going to 'compete like hell' in 2022, won't make any excuses about dead money

Smith says teams rebuild every year in the NFL

In his first year as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, Arthur Smith finished in third place in the NFC South with a 7-10 record. Despite all of the work this roster needed, there were some good moments in 2021. Smith became the first coach to truly unlock offensive weapon Cordarrelle Patterson, rookie Kyle Pitts had a few big games that showed his potential as an up-and-coming star tight end and the Falcons kept their playoff hopes alive until late in the season.

While Smith now has that first season under his belt, more challenges await in 2022. The Falcons carry the most dead money in the league with $62.8 million, per Over the Cap, and Atlanta will have a new quarterback in either Marcus Mariota or Desmond Ridder after shipping away long-time franchise signal-caller Matt Ryan to the Indianapolis Colts. The roster isn't exactly where the Falcons want it to be just yet, and most experts would agree that Atlanta is "rebuilding." 

The meaning of the word "rebuilding" is subjective to coach Smith, as he says every team every offseason is "rebuilding." All he knows is that his team is going to come out ready to compete in 2022. 

"I'll never hide from something like that, and I'm not saying that with any bravado," Smith told Albert Breer of SI.com. "But yeah, certainly, you're rebuilding every year in the NFL, that's why you have a draft, why there's free agency, you're never just gonna run it back as it was. If you're not forward-thinking, if you're not constantly looking to tweak and improve, you'll get passed up. That's what we don't want to have ever happen.

"So yeah, sure, you can call it whatever you want, you really need to retool or rebuild every year in certain spots. Now, is there some major transition? Yeah, you can make that argument. I think it's obvious. But this team's gonna come out, they're gonna compete like hell, they're gonna fight, we've got good young pieces, and we're gonna play well together in all three phases as a team. I'm excited about it. This is gonna be a fun team to coach."

Smith then paused and added, "And we're not gonna make any excuses about dead money or whatever."

In his conversation with Breer, Smith made it clear that Atlanta is not mailing it in for 2022. The Falcons didn't do it last season, and they won't do it this season. There will be competition at every position, and it doesn't matter whether you were a Day 1 draft pick or a free agent picked up in the middle of the season. 

The Falcons understand they are facing some challenges other teams aren't in 2022, but that doesn't mean they can't compete and can't improve. They are laying the base for what they believe will bring success.