How the Atlanta Falcons Sold Free Agent EDGE

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The more film Atlanta Falcons director of player personnel Ryan Pace watched of outside linebacker James Smith-Williams this spring, the more he felt the need to send a message.

So, he did.

“Hey, look, you’ve got to watch this guy,” Pace told Falcons defensive backs coach Jay Rodgers and outside linebackers coach Jacquies Smith. – It’s available.

Rodgers and Smith watched Smith-Williams’ film together. They also looked at his numbers over four years with the Washington Commanders, which included 55 games played, 27 starts, seven sacks, 14 tackles for loss and 31 quarterback hits .

But the biggest stat for Atlanta’s assistant coaches was snaps played — Smith-Williams logged 387 in 2021, 506 in 2022 and 418 in 2023 — in a sideline room displayed by Montez Sweat and Chase Young. That, Rodgers said, showed Washington’s confidence in Smith-Williams.

Smith and Rodgers began reevaluating their own position groups, trying to identify what, exactly, they wanted to put into their rooms. They concluded that between his 6-foot-3, 265-pound frame and experience playing on the sideline, Smith-Williams was the best fit to work with Smith.

“I think once I watched ‘JSW’ on tape, he was the perfect guy, especially in my room and what I need,” Smith told the Falcons at SI. “He brings toughness and physicality to our room. And then he also has positional flexibility in terms of what he can do moving inside, moving outside.

“He creates chess pieces, as I like to call them, where we can move different guys and present some different things.”

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With the position coaches sold, the order fell to head coach Raheem Morris, who was already familiar with Smith-Williams’ skill set from the 2020 pre-draft process.

When Morris turned on film to watch Smith-Williams at North Carolina State University, he saw a defensive lineman wearing No. 1 — an honor the Wolfpack bestowed on players for their work ethic, practice habits and team management.

Morris was impressed then by the drive and physicality Smith-Williams provided, and Atlanta’s first-year coach saw the same traits in Washington. Morris instantly saw his fit as a run defender early on.

Joining Morris in history with Smith-Williams is Falcons assistant general manager Kyle Smith, who was Washington’s director of player personnel when the team drafted Smith-Williams in the seventh round. While the two have only been together for one year — Smith-Williams’ debut season in 2020 — Smith has seen enough to want a reunion.

“He’s a big-motor, tough, rugged, physical guy,” Kyle Smith said. “That’s who James is and I think that’s what we like about him. High character man. He’ll fight and compete to the limit. He brings leadership and he brings ethos to us as well.”

With Morris, the front office and assistant coaches aligned in their belief about Smith-Williams, the Nightingale went to work — more specifically, they went to eat.

Using owner Arthur Blank’s card, Morris and defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake took Smith-Williams to dinner in Buckhead, where they treated him to steak and lobster.

“It was a great deal,” Smith-Williams said, smiling. “I didn’t have to pay.”

Morris, who laughed mid-sip of water when asked about the lavish meal, said the night was about establishing a plan for Smith-Williams. Since Morris became head coach on Jan. 25, the Falcons have prioritized role clarity, the art of explaining a vision to players so they know what to expect and how to attack the job ahead.

Smith-Williams used the phrase “clear and concise” to describe the plan presented by Morris and Lake. The two coaches have an extensive history together, starting with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2007 and again in 2010-11 before reuniting with the Los Angeles Rams in 2023.

Plan aside, Falcons coaches wanted to sell Smith-Williams themselves — and the Raleigh, N.C. native spoke glowingly of the staff, noting Morris’ infectious energy and charismatic, loving personality.

For Morris, relationships off the field are critical to success on it. He finds environments like the Buckhead restaurant fruitful for striking a balance between the two.

“You get a chance to eat the meal that night and get a chance to meet us and know what we’re about,” Morris said. “You have some jokes there, you have a lot of fun, you talk about football, you talk about the vision for the player, you get them to sign, you get them here. There’s excitement.”

By the end of the night, Smith-Williams said it was a no-brainer to sign with Atlanta, ending his stressful free agency cycle that lasted nearly a month. On April 10, the two sides agreed to a one-year, $1.292 million deal, according to Spotrac.

After that, the Falcons began to push Smith-Williams into executing their plan.

Atlanta’s vision for Smith-Williams centered around his ability to stop the run. Morris mentioned earlier in training camp that the Falcons want to focus on what players can do and maximize those abilities rather than trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

This is where role clarity comes in, in its truest sense.

“What he’s been is a linebacker who’s been able to stop the run, who has the ability to show some pass rush when given the opportunity,” Morris said. “James, throughout his career, has been a running back.”

Since the first practice of training camp in Atlanta on July 25, Smith-Williams has worked consistently with the first-team defense at outside linebacker. From an external point of view, such a development may be surprising.

Morris said he laughed off that shock because of the clarity of the role. The plan for Smith-Williams is coming to life, in Morris’ eyes. Smith-Williams agreed, noting that everything Morris and Lake told him showed up in practice — especially playing both inside and outside on the defensive line.

On some plays in camp, Smith-Williams lines up as an outside linebacker standing on the outside shoulder of the offensive tackle. On others, he puts a hand in the dirt and shadows inside the tackle’s shoulder.

It’s a role Smith-Williams loves and one she believes she thrives in because of her body type.

“I think I’m a plus-sized outside linebacker, so I get some of those ‘in-betweens’ at times where I can be on the edge, I also condense if needed,” Smith-Williams said.

During the pre-draft process, players named as “tweeners” are often devalued – they are either considered too big to play one position and too small to play another.

Rodgers, who is entering his 12th year as an NFL defensive line coach and previously served one year as the outside linebackers coach, has worked with plenty of tweeners in his coaching career.

And while he doesn’t have Smith-Williams in his room, Rodgers has a unique insight into players with his frame and feels he can be a redeeming quality when used correctly.

“What you find out is that once they get used to the job description, they have the chance to be a huge mismatch,” Rodgers said. “And so, (you) might find a taller, lighter guy in there who’s a little more agitated than maybe the 330-pound guys.

“So you can use those body types and when you get them to the edge, now they’re going against the tight ends and they should dominate those tight ends.”

Rodgers added that he understands the negative connotation surrounding tweeners, but believes a player’s results are ultimately dictated by the team having a plan that allows them to find success. And when such players succeed, so does the team.

In Smith-Williams’ case, the Falcons have mapped out their plan from the start — but that doesn’t mean he’s necessarily restricted to just defending the run or playing stop downs.

Morris compared the idea of ​​the rise of the role to coaches. For example, someone — like him in 2004 — may start out as an assistant coach, but his role grows as he does more and dominates his responsibilities.

Players have the opportunity to do the same, and Smith-Williams capitalized this summer.

“James is one of those guys that has that kind of role clarity, the ability to go to practice, be able to be present every day in that role, and now you’re seeing him grow,” Morris said. “It’s not shocking because you see it so much in football, but it’s just nice to see it around here.”

Smith-Williams, 27, found particular freedom in Lake’s defense, a 3-4 scheme that required a transition phase after working in a 4-3 with the Chiefs.

Smith-Williams said the defense has been “really great to play” and gives him more responsibility on the plate than he had in Washington, which is a challenge he welcomes.

“I could rush, I could drop — there’s kind of different things out there,” Smith-Williams said. “4-3, very hand in the dirt. I had my one key, roll off the ball, attack the rim. You get your keys pre-snap, but it’s not like in detail.

“If I quit, ‘Ok, I’ve got a move — how do I adjust?’ How do we adapt to the backend? I have to cover.” So there are a lot more moving parts.”

From the moment he stepped inside the Buckhead city limits, Smith-Williams found solace with the Falcons. The steak and lobster dinner had the potential to be full of empty promises, but instead it set the tone for a chapter that, so far, has been full of big portions.

Now comes the big part – production on Sunday. And if his start is any indication, Smith-Williams is headed for an impact year on Atlanta’s defensive front.

“He really comes through because he plays so clearly,” Morris said. “He just plays with a light head. They play with a light mind, a light heart and just have fun. It’s been fun watching him grow.”