Falcons elevate two front office executives, including former Bears GM Ryan Pace

Kyle Smith has also been promoted to assistant GM

The Atlanta Falcons have made two promotions within their front office. The club has promoted Kyle Smith to assistant GM while also elevating former Bears general manager Ryan Pace to director of player personnel, CBS Sports NFL Insider Jonathan Jones reports. Prior to these promotions, Smith had served as the vice president of player personnel and Pace had worked as a senior personnel executive. 

Smith, a former college receiver, entered the front office side of the NFL in 2011 when he was hired as a scout for Washington. He stayed with the franchise until 2020 and ascended to vice president of player personnel by the end of his tenure before taking the same role with Atlanta beginning in 2021. His father, A.J. Smith, was the general manager of the San Diego Chargers from 2003-2012. 

As for Pace, he is arguably best known as the former GM of the Bears, a role he held from 2015 to 2021. He joined the Falcons front office in 2022 and has served as a senior football executive until this latest promotion. Pace was last a director of player personnel in 2014 when he was working inside the New Orleans Saints front office. 

Both of them will continue to work under Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot. He is entering his third season as Atlanta's GM and has quickly put together an up-and-coming club that is expected to be in the thick of the NFC South race this coming season. Similar to Pace, Fontenot came up through the Saints front office, first serving as a scout before elevating to assistant general manager and vice president of pro personnel in 2020 before taking on the job in Atlanta.