The Atlanta Falcons are coming off of quite a roller-coaster 2022 season.

The Falcons won exactly seven games for the fourth time in the last five seasons, and they wound up finishing in last place in the NFC South standings with a 7-10 record. While there was much outside speculation that the NFC South side would part ways with head coach Arthur Smith, general manager Terry Fontenot decided against firing him.

From the standpoint of Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown, he believes that the Falcons organization is in “good hands” with Smith leading the team.

Brown recently took some time to laud the former Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator, who he learned much from.

“Arthur Smith is a really good coach,” Brown said during Super Bowl week. “He helped me out tremendously. … He put me in the right direction, really giving me opportunities and (teaching) me as a player. He’s a great guy, most importantly.

“He’s a great leader. So, I think Atlanta is in really good hands.”

Smith managed to get the best out of multiple players during his tenure in the Titans organization, including Brown. The second-year head coach has been able to do just that as well in Atlanta. He also worked closely with several rookies this past year, from Drake London to Tyler Allgeier.

There is plenty of optimism surrounding the Falcons heading into this year's free agency period and the 2023 NFL Draft. For Falcons owner Arthur Blank, he has been much pleased with the promise shown so far in the Arthur Smith and Terry Fontenot era.

“I think that coach Smith and Terry Fontenot have done a great job at putting their plan in place, making good picks, getting good coaches, getting a group of good young players that are performing well and have been very competitive the last two years,” Blank said during a recent appearance on the NFL Network’s “Super Bowl Live” program.

“But I definitely think going into this third year that we’re going to look for them to reach another level.”

A pivotal free agency period awaits the Falcons in the coming month.