Mike Smith Offered Falcons Job

The Atlanta Falcons have picked a rookie head coach to lead a struggling team that next might have to draft a rookie replacement for Michael Vick.

Jacksonville defensive coordinator Mike Smith was offered the job by general manager Tom Dimitroff, another rookie, and owner Arthur Blank, a person familiar with the search said Wednesday.

The person requested anonymity because contract talks between the Falcons and Smith had not been completed as of late Wednesday afternoon. Smith's hire is expected to be announced on Thursday.

Smith, the Jaguars' defensive coordinator since 2003, had his second interview with the team Friday. He has never been an NFL head coach, but Falcons quarterback Byron Leftwich, who was with Smith in Jacksonville for four years, says Atlanta made the right choice.

"I've played against his defense more than anybody in the world," Leftwich said. "I did it every day in practice for four years. I think he's a great guy for the job.

"A lot of people might not know his name, but I've seen the work he puts in every game, how guys were so prepared on Sundays that they knew exactly what teams were going to do."

Smith, a former defensive assistant with Baltimore, had the league's No. 12 defense with Jacksonville this season after ranking second in 2006 and sixth in 2005.

Leftwich said Smith would never receive enough credit in Jacksonville because many assumed Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio, a former defensive coordinator, was the real mastermind of the defense.

Jaguars defensive end Marcellus Wiley confirmed that opinion when he said on ESPN Wednesday "Jack Del Rio was the defensive coordinator, and if it wasn't him, it was (linebacker) Mike Peterson."

Wiley said Smith "was just a guy who stood at the front of the room when Jack Del Rio was leading the defense."

Wiley said the Falcons "really went down low on the totem pole."

Leftwich said he was aware of the Wiley's comments but said of Smith: "I was with him for four years. Somebody had to be calling those plays in Jacksonville. It was him.

"We always said Smitty would be a great head coach because the time he put in and the way he interacted with players and how seriously he took his job."