HC Arthur Smith dismisses idea of Falcons tanking for 2023 draft picks

There has been plenty of speculation that the Atlanta Falcons are positioning themselves to tank this upcoming season. After trading away starting quarterback Matt Ryan and not selecting a successor in the 2022 NFL Draft, fans and even some media have wondered if the team is looking to bomb in order to position themselves to select a top-notch QB in 2023.

Head coach Arthur Smith, however, isn't having any of that.

"This is a waste of your time and my time if you want to talk about '23," Smith said in a recent interview with The Athletic's Jeff Schultz. "It's the dumbest thing I've ever heard — that a team would try to not win football games."

Smith is heading into his second season coaching the Falcons, a team that is going through a rebuild after not making the playoffs since 2017 and winning only four games in 2020. As much as fans may want to see the team be competitive again at the drop of a hat, Smith explained that a rebuild is a much lengthier process than getting a first overall pick one year.

"OK, you're at the top of the draft — I got it," Smith continued. "But you're in a very transactional phase of the National Football League right now. Trades in the draft. Trades for quarterbacks. It's a different landscape than when Jimmy Johnson took over the Dallas Cowboys in 1989. It was pre-free agency. The famous Herschel Walker trade. They blew it up and went 1-15, and … It was a long rebuild. That is not the same NFL as today. Back then, people would've given their firstborn before they gave their picks away. People are still going off old narratives, and it's comical. Any good team knows how to rebuild every year."

Smith does have a point. In addition to a team needing time to rebuild, they also can't focus solely on high draft picks because even drafting a star quarterback first overall doesn't change a whole team around. (The Jaguars selected Trevor Lawrence first overall in 2021 and look what happened to his first season.)

As for how long it will take for the Falcons to turn their fortunes around and be a Super Bowl contender again, we'll just have to wait and see how long that process takes.