Arthur William Smith (born May 27, 1982) is an American football offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL). He has also been an assistant coach for the North Carolina Tar Heels, Ole Miss Rebels, and Washington Redskins.
Arthur Smith might not be at the top of anybody’s list of NFL head coaching candidates right now.
But it might not be long.
Conor Orr, staff writer for SI.com and MMQB, put together a comprehensive list last week of those he expects will be mentioned and/or considered for head coach openings following the 2020 NFL season, which kicked off with Kansas City’s victory over Houston on Thursday.
Orr’s lineup consists of 25 coaches broken into three categories, the top candidates, second-chance candidates with upside and the young guns. Smith was included in the latter.
Orr’s take:
Smith has been with the Titans since 2011 and has worked under four different head coaches. He became offensive coordinator in 2019 after three seasons as tight ends coach, the first two under former coach Mike Mularkey and the third under current boss Mike Vrabel. He was assistant tight ends coach in 2014-15 under Ken Whisenhunt (he actually finished the 2015 season as tight ends coach after Whisenhunt was fired and Mularkey was named interim head coach).
He came to Tennessee as a defensive assistant/quality control in Mike Munchak’s first season. The next year he was an offensive assistant/quality control and in 2013 he was an offensive line/tight end assistant.
That is six different jobs in nine seasons under four coaches, and now he is one step from the top of an organization.
“It’s all about your mindset,” Smith said last week about his professional philosophy. “I take kind of a neutral approach when you’re in this thing. … The way I look at it, win or lose you’ve got to take a neutral mindset. A lot of times when you win, it’s not that everything went right for you either. You’re just kind of building week to week.
“I think it’s a very toxic mindset to have, [when] all of a sudden you think something is catastrophic. The season’s too long. … Things change week to week.”
For him to change jobs again, he likely will have to change organizations.
Why Arthur Smith is the perfect head coach candidate for the New York Jets in 2021:
In a limited amount of time, Douglas has shown that he understands how a winning team should be built. He values premium positions and he understands the team should be assembled through the draft, not flashy free agent signings. Douglas remained patient and fetched a mega-haul for Jamal Adams, and the (very) early returns on his first draft look promising (see Becton, Mekhi).
One of the biggest keys to this inevitable coaching hire is to find somebody whose vision for the team aligns perfectly with the GMs. The Johnsons need to avoid a flashy Jim Harbaugh-type hire who will inevitably try to override Douglas and push for roster control.
The best-run organizations in this league have synergy from top to bottom. The Jets gave Douglas a six-year contract so he could properly execute his vision for the team, which included building “the best culture in all of sports,” as he himself has proclaimed. A head coach establishes culture more than anyone else in the building, so Douglas deserves full authority to handpick his guy, and handling this search in any other way is a mistake.
The Jets need somebody who sees football the same way as Douglas. Somebody who can establish a mutual trust with him. They need a coach who has a clear vision that Douglas believes in, who in turn believes that Douglas will acquire the perfect players to execute that vision.
Arthur Smith can be that guy.
Offensive Scheme
As Tennessee’s offensive coordinator since 2019, Smith has gained notoriety over the last year for rejuvenating Ryan Tannehill’s career and turning the Titans offense into one of the NFL’s best, riding an elite run/play-action game to an AFC Championship appearance.
After a shaky start with Marcus Mariota, Smith’s offense has been among the best in the NFL since Tannehill took over. From Weeks 7-17 of 2019, the Titans scored a touchdown on 34.5% of their offensive drives, second-best behind only the Ravens.
Rather than trying to set up favorable third downs like Gase, Smith avoids third down altogether by keeping his foot on the gas pedal. His Titans moved the chains on a league-high 25.9% of first down plays from Weeks 7-17.
Previously known as a mediocre starter, Tannehill looked like a superstar under Smith, leading the NFL in yards per attempt (9.6) and passer rating (117.5) – video game numbers for a guy who was once seen as damaged goods under Gase.
It seemed impossible to replicate the smashing success of 2019, but the early returns for Smith in 2020 have been great. Tannehill is fourth in the NFL with an even higher 120.7 passer rating. The Titans rank seventh in third down conversion rate (51.9%) and are 6-for-7 (85.7%) scoring touchdowns in the red zone, third-best. Overall, Tennessee is 10th in points per drive (2.55) and ninth in offensive DVOA (+13.5%).
With a unit that probably would have been considered more talented than Tennessee’s at the start of the 2019 season, Gase led the Jets to 32nd in both offensive DVOA (-25.4%) and points per drive (1.36). Sam Darnold‘s absence was hardly an excuse for Gase, as from Weeks 6-17 (the period following Darnold’s return), the Jets still ranked 28th in the NFL with only 29.6% of their drives resulting in a score (FG or TD) and 30th in the NFL with 26.0 yards per drive, even with seven of their 12 games over that span coming against the league’s six worst defenses according to DVOA.
“Brilliant offensive mind.”
Christopher Johnson is far off-base in his usage of that statement to describe Gase, but those words actually do apply to Smith.
Versatile, explosive, exotic smashmouth football might be the best way to describe Smith’s offense.
Smith made his bones in the league as a tight ends coach, credited with growing the careers of Delanie Walker and more recently Jonnu Smith. It shows in his offense, as the 2019 Titans led the NFL in 13 personnel (1 RB, 3 TE) at 10% and fourth in 12 personnel (1 RB, 2 TE) at 29%. Of course, this would all be great news for Chris Herndon, who would immediately have a major role in the offense.
