The Atlanta Falcons have acquired tight end Jonnu Smith from the New England Patriots in exchange for a 2023 7th round pick.
Smith will rejoin former Tennessee Titans TE coach Arthur Smith, who is now the head coach of the Falcons. The 27 year old enjoyed his most productive seasons under his new head coach, and the player and club alike are hoping to recapture some of that magic with a change of scenery.
Following an 8 TD season in 2020, New England signed Smith in free agency to a 4yr/$50M contract with $31.25M in guaranteed money. Unfortunately the former 3rd round draft pick never got his feet under him in the AFC East. Smith scored only 1 touchdown as a Patriot and failed to eclipse either 30 receptions or 300 yards receiving in his two years with the team.
The Patriots still have TE’s Hunter Henry, Matt Sokol and Scotty Washington on the roster, which made Smith expendable heading into 2023. As part of the agreement with Atlanta, the former FIU alum will rework his contract with the Falcons. The trade will save New England roughly $4.4M in cap space for the upcoming season.
Across 6 NFL seasons Smith has recorded 169 receptions for 1,841yds and 17 TDs. He’ll now join a tight end room with former 1st round draft pick Kyle Pitts, who is coming off season ending knee surgery in 2022.
By acquiring Smith, Atlanta will hope to rework their offense which came under fire for being too conservative last season. The Falcons were one of the most run heavy teams in the league in 2022, which yielded good results on the ground. Unfortunately this meant utilizing Pitts as a blocker more often than you’d like to see someone with his unrivalled athletic abilities get used.
As a result, the 22 year old’s numbers fell off a cliff when compared to his breakout rookie campaign. After amassing 68 catches for 1,026yds in year 1, Pitts only recorded 28 catches for 356 yards in 2022.
If the team deploys Smith as a more traditional TE, this will free up Pitts to be moved around the line of scrimmage to create mismatches for the Falcons passing game. Whether they choose to use two tight end sets, or simply have the former Florida Gator lineup as a receiver remains to be seen. Regardless, the Falcons playbook will almost certainly have more passing plays built in this year than they did the previous campaign.
While essentially “done” the trade cannot be finalized until the new league year begins on Wednesday.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Chipermc. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.