Tyrann Mathieu isn’t letting Arthur Smith move on from his final season with Falcons

Arthur Smith is no longer the head coach for the New Orleans Saints. After three seasons with the team, he was fired at the end of the 2023 season. He’s now the offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Since it was his offensive coordinator work with the Tennessee Titans that got Smith hired in Atlanta, many people think the Pittsburgh gig is a great job for Smith to bounce back.

While Smith is working on that, he’s being reminded of some of his past mistakes. Coincidentally, the reminder is coming from the team he last coached against, who left him extremely frustrated. New Orleans Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu recently made a comment that was essentially criticizing Arthur Smith.

In an appearance on the Green Light with Chris Long podcast, Mathieu took some time to talk about Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson. The veteran safety said that Robisnon is going to be special, comparing him to Hall of Fame running backs, Marshall Faulk, Edgerrin James and LaDainian Tomlinson. He ended his point by saying, “I didn't think the Falcons really used him as good as they should have last year, but, man, he's going to be good.”

Tyrann Mathieu says Falcons misused Bijan Robinson

That's something that Arthur Smith heard a ton during his final season with the Falcons. Between fantasy football GMs, prop bet gamblers, and fans that just wanted to see an elite talent touch the football, Smith was criticized almost weekly for not getting Robinson involved enough.

Only his rookie season, Bijan Robinson finished the year playing in all 17 games, carrying the ball 214 times for 976 and four touchdowns. He also caught 58 passes for 487 yards and another four touchdowns. However, everyone could clearly see that it wasn’t enough touches for a player that was already one of the most talented backs in the league.

Now, Bijan Robinson will be a part of a whole new operation. Raheem Morris is now Atlanta’s head coach, Zac Robinson is the offensive coordinator, and Kirk Cousins is the quarterback. It’s likely that things will look different for Robinson in his second season.

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