Saints fire Pete Carmichael: 4 immediate replacements for New Orleans
3. Saints can hire former Falcons head coach Arthur Smith
Before his three-year stint as Atlanta Falcons head coach, Arthur Smith constructed the No. 2 offense in the NFL around Ryan Tannehill in the Tennessee back in 2020. He went 7-10 in each of his three seasons with Atlanta, but Smith's track record as an offensive play-caller remains strong. He came under fire for his conservative nature in Atlanta, but the Falcons were starting Marcus Mariota and Desmond Ridder. It's hard to draw up bold, inventive plays when you can't trust your quarterback to make even the simplest pitch-and-catches work.
The Saints can bet on Smith opening up his playbook with a better QB under center. Carr can make difficult throws. In fact, his entire career is built off of his bravery as a passer. Few QBs let in fly more than Carr, and New Orleans has a nice collection of supportive pieces to incorporate into Smith's balanced system. When he's at his best, Smith shows a great understanding of how to blend the run game and the passing game. He gets everybody involved, at times to a fault. But, with Carr reading the field and airing it out on a regular basis, Smith should find ample success with the Falcons' foremost rival.
New Orleans could prefer a fresh perspective in the most literal sense, canning Carmichael for a brand-new offensive coordinator with no prior play-calling experience. There are successful young OCs all over the place these days, with Houston's Bobby Slowik standing out as the prime example. But, Smith is 41 years old. He was one of the youngest head coaches in the league prior to his Atlanta ouster. He's fresh enough to grow with New Orleans over the next decade if all works out.
The Saints should be intimately familiar with Smith at this point. He doesn't appear to be receiving much buzz on the head coaching carousel, so we should expect a return to the coordinator pool. The Saints can look back to Smith's performance with the Titans and find reason enough to invest.